By Sam Onimisi
A self-imposed task I gave to myself early in life is to ruminate over a challenge or a problem with a view of understanding the cause or finding a solution to it. It does not matter if I am directly concerned or not, so long as it is a human problem. That is why it looks as if one is fixated over the Jos, or betters still, the Plateau crisis that seems to have defied solution. It cannot be said that the indigenes of Jos has an identity problem because they do not behave or appear to have any such problem. But there is no doubt that some residents of the town have an identity problem, and in an effort to resolve it, banded themselves into an association called the Jasawa – meaning the people of Jos. However, the concept of Jasawa is as misleading as it is confusing in the sense that membership is restricted to a particular ethnic group with a specified religion. If all Nigerians resident in Jos were to come together and christened themselves as Jasawas, there would have been no crisis in Jos and none would be laying particular claims to Jos North.
The situation in Jos as common knowledge reveals and attests to is that there are indigenes of Jos and there are residents of Jos, one is both of Jos and Plateau State, the others are residents of Jos but from other states. For easy classification or identity, one is described as an indigene while the other is a settler. This classification is not peculiar to Jos or Plateau but a phenomenon throughout the states of Nigeria. Both categories of people are also citizens of Nigeria and this should not be a cause for quarrel or for riot. This is because if I am from Kano or Katsina, I will assert the fact that I am a Kanawa or Katsinawa but if I am resident in Jos or Shagamu, I am not by any stretch of the imagination, a Jasawa or Shagamawa but a Nigerian resident in those towns. Again, this is because one cannot be a Jasawa and a Kanawa at the same time, nor can one be a Katsinawa and a Shagamawa at the same time.
To claim dual rights or double indigeneship is either a symptom of identity crisis, or a deliberate effort at causing confusion or trouble. It is like being an indigene as well as a settler in one go. Or better still, it is an attempt to be at home and abroad at the same time. Who can be a host as well as a guest in one fell swoop? If these are not possible, what makes the ‘Jasawas’ think that they can force the indigenes of Jos to become settlers in their own land? Or is it possible for the indigenes of Jos resident in Sokoto or Enugu to form an association of Sakwatawa or Enugawas for the purpose of wrestling the towns from their indigenes? Why don’t we learn to abide by the dictum of doing to others what you would like done to you?
From all accounts, the tribe which baptized themselves as Jasawas or even the hybrid by which they are known is an important, respected and renowned ethnic group in Nigeria. How come would a few of such an important nationality choose to be known, called or identified as Jasawas? Do they love their residences more than their places of origin? Could they be Birom, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani at the same time? What kind of country shall we have if a particular ethnic group is allowed to indulge in demonizing themselves as Jasawas, Shagamawas, Onitshawa, Owerriwa, Warriwa, Yenegoawa or even Port-Harcattawa? If two or more ethnic nationalities emulates them and elect to be so-called, then we shall be saddled with a babel of Jasawa-Hausawa, Jasawa-Urhobo, Jasawa-Edo, Jasawa-Idoma, Jasawa-Ebira, Jasawa-Igbo and perhaps Jasawa-Yorubawa ad-infini-tum.
The governments of the country must embark on civil awareness campaigns to inform Nigerians of their citizenship rights and obligations. It is not only misinformation but mis-education to claim that because you are a Nigerian, you are an indigene of wherever you choose to reside. Citizenship rights do not extend to indigenes inheritance. It is like the various languages we speak. No matter how large the number of speakers of one language, it cannot replace or cancel another language, no matter how small or few the speakers are. Again, like culture. All cultures are equally important and the superiority of one over the other is only in the mind of those who feels so. Religions are of equal importance and those who feel their own is more important are entitled to their views, except that their views does not change the facts. In the same vein, no ethnic group is superior enough to usurp the rights and make slaves of another ethnic group in a Republic running a democracy. We live in peace when we respect each other’s rights and values. Crisis ensues when we trample on the rights and inheritance of others, disregard their values, appropriate or confiscate their portion of the common wealth. Those who are no slaves should not try to make slaves out of others; for it is better to live an inter-dependent life with mutual reciprocity than to seek to live as kings in the midst of crawling subjects. Medieval times are far gone-bye and over for ever, are they not?
The tenancy relationship between house-owners and tenants gives each side some rights which all parties are bound to respect. The fact that one is a tenant does not diminish his/her humanity; this is more so as the tenant could become a landlord some day. However, the landlord remains the owner of his house no matter how far away he is. The fact that he is a short man does not detract from his ownership or his rights over his property. When the landlord requires the personal use of his house, the tenant is bound to leave. If and when the tenant decides to relocate, no landlord can hold him down. No matter how long a tenant lives in a house, he cannot become the landlord except his purchase the house. Unless he kills the owner of the house and destroy all evidence or proof of ownership, the house will still remain the property of the owner. These are hard facts of life which are known to every informed adult. If these were so for a house, are they not much more so for a land or a town inhabited by indigenes?
Another instance of inter-personal relationship is that of husband and wife. For both to live in peace, certain basic conditions must be in place. There must be mutual love, respect and submission. Not only these, there must also be mutual faithfulness and the man being the head, must be able to fulfill his responsibilities. If these conditions are fulfilled, the marriage would be a near-perfect union. Trouble comes when one side begin to take the other for granted and when unfaithfulness sets in and either party neglects his/her responsibilities. However, it is well known that the offspring of the marriage remains the children of the husband whose name they bear. In fact, it was into that name the woman changed after her marriage to him. Women who insist on bethrowing her maiden name to her children is not prepared to be a wife and yet, she cannot be a mother and father at the same time; neither can she be a wife and husband all at a go. Her insistence on this matter is the highest form of non-submission and divorce could only be the end-result.
In similar vein, once you leave your native town of origin and migrate to another town, you are not only a stranger; you are a non-indigene and a mere resident. You are obligated to respect your hosts just as you would be a respected host back in your home town. To insist that you carry your rights about and recognize no authority in your new place of domicile, and to go ahead to foist your values on your host is to court disaster or disgrace. The sum total is that a Nigerian should live as a citizen anywhere he resides in Nigeria; and every Nigerian ought to know that because it is not possible to carry about his house or his father’s house, or his land and or his father’s land, he is bound to be a tenant or a resident somewhere and therefore, that he has a landlord or a host. No citizenship I know of that grants everyone absolute right of movement, freedom and liberty to do just anything without consideration for his hosts. When citizenship rights become a menace to others, indigeneship rights surface to check the usurpers. Please, let’s have more civic education so as to stop making wawas of ourselves!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Why are cannot all be Kanawas
By Sam Onimisi
A self-imposed task I gave to myself early in life is to ruminate over a challenge or a problem with a view of understanding the cause or finding a solution to it. It does not matter if I am directly concerned or not, so long as it is a human problem. That is why it looks as if one is fixated over the Jos, or betters still, the Plateau crisis that seems to have defied solution. It cannot be said that the indigenes of Jos has an identity problem because they do not behave or appear to have any such problem. But there is no doubt that some residents of the town have an identity problem, and in an effort to resolve it, banded themselves into an association called the Jasawa – meaning the people of Jos. However, the concept of Jasawa is as misleading as it is confusing in the sense that membership is restricted to a particular ethnic group with a specified religion. If all Nigerians resident in Jos were to come together and christened themselves as Jasawas, there would have been no crisis in Jos and none would be laying particular claims to Jos North.
The situation in Jos as common knowledge reveals and attests to is that there are indigenes of Jos and there are residents of Jos, one is both of Jos and Plateau State, the others are residents of Jos but from other states. For easy classification or identity, one is described as an indigene while the other is a settler. This classification is not peculiar to Jos or Plateau but a phenomenon throughout the states of Nigeria. Both categories of people are also citizens of Nigeria and this should not be a cause for quarrel or for riot. This is because if I am from Kano or Katsina, I will assert the fact that I am a Kanawa or Katsinawa but if I am resident in Jos or Shagamu, I am not by any stretch of the imagination, a Jasawa or Shagamawa but a Nigerian resident in those towns. Again, this is because one cannot be a Jasawa and a Kanawa at the same time, nor can one be a Katsinawa and a Shagamawa at the same time.
To claim dual rights or double indigeneship is either a symptom of identity crisis, or a deliberate effort at causing confusion or trouble. It is like being an indigene as well as a settler in one go. Or better still, it is an attempt to be at home and abroad at the same time. Who can be a host as well as a guest in one fell swoop? If these are not possible, what makes the ‘Jasawas’ think that they can force the indigenes of Jos to become settlers in their own land? Or is it possible for the indigenes of Jos resident in Sokoto or Enugu to form an association of Sakwatawa or Enugawas for the purpose of wrestling the towns from their indigenes? Why don’t we learn to abide by the dictum of doing to others what you would like done to you?
From all accounts, the tribe which baptized themselves as Jasawas or even the hybrid by which they are known is an important, respected and renowned ethnic group in Nigeria. How come would a few of such an important nationality choose to be known, called or identified as Jasawas? Do they love their residences more than their places of origin? Could they be Birom, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani at the same time? What kind of country shall we have if a particular ethnic group is allowed to indulge in demonizing themselves as Jasawas, Shagamawas, Onitshawa, Owerriwa, Warriwa, Yenegoawa or even Port-Harcattawa? If two or more ethnic nationalities emulates them and elect to be so-called, then we shall be saddled with a babel of Jasawa-Hausawa, Jasawa-Urhobo, Jasawa-Edo, Jasawa-Idoma, Jasawa-Ebira, Jasawa-Igbo and perhaps Jasawa-Yorubawa ad-infini-tum.
The governments of the country must embark on civil awareness campaigns to inform Nigerians of their citizenship rights and obligations. It is not only misinformation but mis-education to claim that because you are a Nigerian, you are an indigene of wherever you choose to reside. Citizenship rights do not extend to indigenes inheritance. It is like the various languages we speak. No matter how large the number of speakers of one language, it cannot replace or cancel another language, no matter how small or few the speakers are. Again, like culture. All cultures are equally important and the superiority of one over the other is only in the mind of those who feels so. Religions are of equal importance and those who feel their own is more important are entitled to their views, except that their views does not change the facts. In the same vein, no ethnic group is superior enough to usurp the rights and make slaves of another ethnic group in a Republic running a democracy. We live in peace when we respect each other’s rights and values. Crisis ensues when we trample on the rights and inheritance of others, disregard their values, appropriate or confiscate their portion of the common wealth. Those who are no slaves should not try to make slaves out of others; for it is better to live an inter-dependent life with mutual reciprocity than to seek to live as kings in the midst of crawling subjects. Medieval times are far gone-bye and over for ever, are they not?
The tenancy relationship between house-owners and tenants gives each side some rights which all parties are bound to respect. The fact that one is a tenant does not diminish his/her humanity; this is more so as the tenant could become a landlord some day. However, the landlord remains the owner of his house no matter how far away he is. The fact that he is a short man does not detract from his ownership or his rights over his property. When the landlord requires the personal use of his house, the tenant is bound to leave. If and when the tenant decides to relocate, no landlord can hold him down. No matter how long a tenant lives in a house, he cannot become the landlord except his purchase the house. Unless he kills the owner of the house and destroy all evidence or proof of ownership, the house will still remain the property of the owner. These are hard facts of life which are known to every informed adult. If these were so for a house, are they not much more so for a land or a town inhabited by indigenes?
Another instance of inter-personal relationship is that of husband and wife. For both to live in peace, certain basic conditions must be in place. There must be mutual love, respect and submission. Not only these, there must also be mutual faithfulness and the man being the head, must be able to fulfill his responsibilities. If these conditions are fulfilled, the marriage would be a near-perfect union. Trouble comes when one side begin to take the other for granted and when unfaithfulness sets in and either party neglects his/her responsibilities. However, it is well known that the offspring of the marriage remains the children of the husband whose name they bear. In fact, it was into that name the woman changed after her marriage to him. Women who insist on bethrowing her maiden name to her children is not prepared to be a wife and yet, she cannot be a mother and father at the same time; neither can she be a wife and husband all at a go. Her insistence on this matter is the highest form of non-submission and divorce could only be the end-result.
In similar vein, once you leave your native town of origin and migrate to another town, you are not only a stranger; you are a non-indigene and a mere resident. You are obligated to respect your hosts just as you would be a respected host back in your home town. To insist that you carry your rights about and recognize no authority in your new place of domicile, and to go ahead to foist your values on your host is to court disaster or disgrace. The sum total is that a Nigerian should live as a citizen anywhere he resides in Nigeria; and every Nigerian ought to know that because it is not possible to carry about his house or his father’s house, or his land and or his father’s land, he is bound to be a tenant or a resident somewhere and therefore, that he has a landlord or a host. No citizenship I know of that grants everyone absolute right of movement, freedom and liberty to do just anything without consideration for his hosts. When citizenship rights become a menace to others, indigeneship rights surface to check the usurpers. Please, let’s have more civic education so as to stop making wawas of ourselves!
A self-imposed task I gave to myself early in life is to ruminate over a challenge or a problem with a view of understanding the cause or finding a solution to it. It does not matter if I am directly concerned or not, so long as it is a human problem. That is why it looks as if one is fixated over the Jos, or betters still, the Plateau crisis that seems to have defied solution. It cannot be said that the indigenes of Jos has an identity problem because they do not behave or appear to have any such problem. But there is no doubt that some residents of the town have an identity problem, and in an effort to resolve it, banded themselves into an association called the Jasawa – meaning the people of Jos. However, the concept of Jasawa is as misleading as it is confusing in the sense that membership is restricted to a particular ethnic group with a specified religion. If all Nigerians resident in Jos were to come together and christened themselves as Jasawas, there would have been no crisis in Jos and none would be laying particular claims to Jos North.
The situation in Jos as common knowledge reveals and attests to is that there are indigenes of Jos and there are residents of Jos, one is both of Jos and Plateau State, the others are residents of Jos but from other states. For easy classification or identity, one is described as an indigene while the other is a settler. This classification is not peculiar to Jos or Plateau but a phenomenon throughout the states of Nigeria. Both categories of people are also citizens of Nigeria and this should not be a cause for quarrel or for riot. This is because if I am from Kano or Katsina, I will assert the fact that I am a Kanawa or Katsinawa but if I am resident in Jos or Shagamu, I am not by any stretch of the imagination, a Jasawa or Shagamawa but a Nigerian resident in those towns. Again, this is because one cannot be a Jasawa and a Kanawa at the same time, nor can one be a Katsinawa and a Shagamawa at the same time.
To claim dual rights or double indigeneship is either a symptom of identity crisis, or a deliberate effort at causing confusion or trouble. It is like being an indigene as well as a settler in one go. Or better still, it is an attempt to be at home and abroad at the same time. Who can be a host as well as a guest in one fell swoop? If these are not possible, what makes the ‘Jasawas’ think that they can force the indigenes of Jos to become settlers in their own land? Or is it possible for the indigenes of Jos resident in Sokoto or Enugu to form an association of Sakwatawa or Enugawas for the purpose of wrestling the towns from their indigenes? Why don’t we learn to abide by the dictum of doing to others what you would like done to you?
From all accounts, the tribe which baptized themselves as Jasawas or even the hybrid by which they are known is an important, respected and renowned ethnic group in Nigeria. How come would a few of such an important nationality choose to be known, called or identified as Jasawas? Do they love their residences more than their places of origin? Could they be Birom, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani at the same time? What kind of country shall we have if a particular ethnic group is allowed to indulge in demonizing themselves as Jasawas, Shagamawas, Onitshawa, Owerriwa, Warriwa, Yenegoawa or even Port-Harcattawa? If two or more ethnic nationalities emulates them and elect to be so-called, then we shall be saddled with a babel of Jasawa-Hausawa, Jasawa-Urhobo, Jasawa-Edo, Jasawa-Idoma, Jasawa-Ebira, Jasawa-Igbo and perhaps Jasawa-Yorubawa ad-infini-tum.
The governments of the country must embark on civil awareness campaigns to inform Nigerians of their citizenship rights and obligations. It is not only misinformation but mis-education to claim that because you are a Nigerian, you are an indigene of wherever you choose to reside. Citizenship rights do not extend to indigenes inheritance. It is like the various languages we speak. No matter how large the number of speakers of one language, it cannot replace or cancel another language, no matter how small or few the speakers are. Again, like culture. All cultures are equally important and the superiority of one over the other is only in the mind of those who feels so. Religions are of equal importance and those who feel their own is more important are entitled to their views, except that their views does not change the facts. In the same vein, no ethnic group is superior enough to usurp the rights and make slaves of another ethnic group in a Republic running a democracy. We live in peace when we respect each other’s rights and values. Crisis ensues when we trample on the rights and inheritance of others, disregard their values, appropriate or confiscate their portion of the common wealth. Those who are no slaves should not try to make slaves out of others; for it is better to live an inter-dependent life with mutual reciprocity than to seek to live as kings in the midst of crawling subjects. Medieval times are far gone-bye and over for ever, are they not?
The tenancy relationship between house-owners and tenants gives each side some rights which all parties are bound to respect. The fact that one is a tenant does not diminish his/her humanity; this is more so as the tenant could become a landlord some day. However, the landlord remains the owner of his house no matter how far away he is. The fact that he is a short man does not detract from his ownership or his rights over his property. When the landlord requires the personal use of his house, the tenant is bound to leave. If and when the tenant decides to relocate, no landlord can hold him down. No matter how long a tenant lives in a house, he cannot become the landlord except his purchase the house. Unless he kills the owner of the house and destroy all evidence or proof of ownership, the house will still remain the property of the owner. These are hard facts of life which are known to every informed adult. If these were so for a house, are they not much more so for a land or a town inhabited by indigenes?
Another instance of inter-personal relationship is that of husband and wife. For both to live in peace, certain basic conditions must be in place. There must be mutual love, respect and submission. Not only these, there must also be mutual faithfulness and the man being the head, must be able to fulfill his responsibilities. If these conditions are fulfilled, the marriage would be a near-perfect union. Trouble comes when one side begin to take the other for granted and when unfaithfulness sets in and either party neglects his/her responsibilities. However, it is well known that the offspring of the marriage remains the children of the husband whose name they bear. In fact, it was into that name the woman changed after her marriage to him. Women who insist on bethrowing her maiden name to her children is not prepared to be a wife and yet, she cannot be a mother and father at the same time; neither can she be a wife and husband all at a go. Her insistence on this matter is the highest form of non-submission and divorce could only be the end-result.
In similar vein, once you leave your native town of origin and migrate to another town, you are not only a stranger; you are a non-indigene and a mere resident. You are obligated to respect your hosts just as you would be a respected host back in your home town. To insist that you carry your rights about and recognize no authority in your new place of domicile, and to go ahead to foist your values on your host is to court disaster or disgrace. The sum total is that a Nigerian should live as a citizen anywhere he resides in Nigeria; and every Nigerian ought to know that because it is not possible to carry about his house or his father’s house, or his land and or his father’s land, he is bound to be a tenant or a resident somewhere and therefore, that he has a landlord or a host. No citizenship I know of that grants everyone absolute right of movement, freedom and liberty to do just anything without consideration for his hosts. When citizenship rights become a menace to others, indigeneship rights surface to check the usurpers. Please, let’s have more civic education so as to stop making wawas of ourselves!
Friday, November 11, 2011
The Make-believe Majority Rule
By Sam Onimisi
There are two political doctrines which have prevailed so far in Nigeria, although in their perverted version but which is continually doing damage to the unity of Nigeria or some of its constituent states. They are the concept of majority rule and partisan party loyalty. For this write-up, we shall limit ourselves to a constituent part, using it as a case-study. But let us begin by defining what they mean. Majority rule is “a political principle providing that a majority, usually constituted by fifty percent plus one of an organized group will have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole.” The key point in this definition is: fifty one percent of the whole. Party partisanship or loyalty is “a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person, especially one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance.” The definitions are not mine but that of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and this point is made to exonerate one from charges of bias or even prejudice by some of my readers.
An ‘organized group’ in this case means a political party and not an ethnic group, since the country’s constitution forbids the formation of parties on ethnic basis. It only means that political like-minds irrespective of ethnic affiliation attracted to a party’s manifestoes would vote the same way at all times for the party’s candidates or position. A majority is the largest number of the votes cast in an election, whether it is the nomination process of a party or a general election. Here is where population or numerical strength comes in; the number being that of people of voting age who choose to exercise their franchise.
Again, it should be noted that a group may constitute a majority only when they prove it by the exercise of their voting rights in a particular way. Therefore, there is no permanent ethnic majority in a plural political setting, except if a people choose to firmly adhere to a party or person, especially those ‘exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance.’ Having set the template for this discourse, we can now reveal the specifics of the state in this case study.
Kogi state is made up of Ebira, Igala and Okun ethnic groups as the three major tribal groupings with about eight other smaller ethnic groups. In numerical strength, Igala comes first closely followed by the Ebira and Okun. The ruling party in the state is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has majority adherents in the three senatorial districts. The Igala has ruled the state since 1992 (except during the military regime of Abacha) and the PDP and five other leading parties has again fielded or has nominated their candidates from the Igala ethnic group of Kogi East Senatorial District. So also did about seven other parties, except the SDMP which nominated theirs from Kogi Central and the Convention Peoples Party with its candidate from Kogi West, but whose chances of victory is next to nil, given the relative weakness of their parties in the state. It needs to be recalled that Abubakar Audu ruled the state from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2003. His fellow Igala tribesman Ibrahim Idris took over in 2003, re-elected in 2007 and had a judicial extension of his tenure which terminates by 2012 – at which time, the Igala would have ruled Kogi State for 15 out of its 20 years in existence as a state.
Can we attribute Igala’s dominance of governance to their numerical strength? My own humble answer is both yes and no, based on the fact that Igalas are found in all parties with some presence in the state, a fact which manifested in 13 out of the 15 parties participating in the next gubernatorial race picking their candidates from among the Igala. Other ethnic groups are also found in other parties as well. Therefore, ethnic numerical strength does not necessarily translate to a party’s political strength, especially where no ethnic group constitute up to 50% of the state. The Igala is known to be about 45% of the population and since their candidates are in 13 parties, their votes will be split and so their numerical strength has little advantage. Can we say that the Igala is more adept in governance than other ethnic groups in the state?
Since there is no basis for comparison, it is out of place to attribute their dominance of governance to adeptness. Until the Ebira, the Okun or any other ethnic group has ruled the state, there is no standard to measure the quality of governance in the state. However, if comparison is made between the Abubakar Audu and the Ibrahim Idris’s regimes, both could be described as a disaster in degrees. While Audu made efforts in infrastructural development, his high hubris and poor public relations was counter-productive and obstructive. As for Ibrahim Idris, we may need to wait for an eleventh hour miracle and since this can happen at anytime in the six months left to his regime, lets not be in hurry to judge him too early. What is obviously going on for the Igala is their power of incumbency which is often deployed to manipulate the primaries of the party in government to produce successors from among the Igala – a practice which some other parties has adopted in the hope and belief that the incumbent Igala governor would manipulate votes in their favour since their candidates are fellow Igala. This hope or belief has worked twice in the past: when there was disagreement within the SDP in 1992 and acrimony in PDP in 1999, the alternatives were the NRC and the ANPP who had Igala candidates and who won by protest votes. But except for blind, prejudiced and unreasoning allegiance to a party, the other ethnic groups in the PDP could as well choose to vote against their own party who would always impose an Igala candidate on them by default or design. As it is at present, if the internal crisis in the PDP is not resolved before the election, Gov. Ibrahim Idris will have no option than allow or help manipulate any of the 13 Igala candidates into power come 2012.
The protest votes that produced Prince Abubakar Audu twice in 1992 and 1999 were not solely Igala votes but the votes of the entire electorate of Kogi State. If other ethnic groups could vote against their party in protest, couldn’t the Igala vote against their own tribesman in favour of candidates from other ethnic groups? From experience of history, political monopoly breeds hatred for the monopolist. A government formed on the basis of a make-belief majority cannot be a legitimate government and would therefore, lack authority to act on behalf of the people. The concept of majority rule in a multi-ethnic state is adherence of the majority to a party and its programmes as contained in its manifesto-not to a tribe. However, if a tribe is bent on monopolizing power and ethno-centric in governance, they should remember that self determination is a universal right of all ethnic nationalities and no one can be forced to remain a subservient citizen in a state that works to diminish their citizenship rights through make-belief majority rule. In other words, if Kogi State is conceived and run as an Igala State, then other ethnic nationalities has the option of opting out of the state, in the exercise of their rights of self-determination and freedom of association-which are even superior to the concept of majority rule. It is even better for the Igala to seek for a state of their own than to rule the multi-ethnic state in perpetuity.
On the other hand, it is not fair to blame the Igala for the inability of the Ebira, Okun and other ethnic groups to organize themselves for the challenges of political power. Except in Nigeria (and has it not failed?), power is not rotated; power is something to be fought for and won. At best, power is devolved so that there is no need for contention among the different nationalities and cultures in a polity. However, to blame other ethnic groups for their apparent weakness in power contest is to misunderstand the issue at stake and add insult to injury. There was no known agreement or terms for co-habitation for the diverse ethnic groups in Kogi State or even the entire country as a whole. Kogi State and Nigeria came into being by military fiat. A state that was created on the basis of presumptions can never be stable, just and fair, or progressive. The nature of politics and power demands that consenting peoples must have a written agreement spelling out the terms of co-habitation, the breach of which terminates the agreement or dissolves the union. The absence of a binding constitution on the state and the imposition of a constitution on Nigerians is one principal reason for the lack of equity and fairness in our affairs. If Kogi State or Nigeria proceeds or continues with the present presumptions, power monopoly through manipulations will continue to be our lot- and the outcome will remain a make-believe majority rule. Well, if this will water the seed of the quest for self-determination, why not?
There are two political doctrines which have prevailed so far in Nigeria, although in their perverted version but which is continually doing damage to the unity of Nigeria or some of its constituent states. They are the concept of majority rule and partisan party loyalty. For this write-up, we shall limit ourselves to a constituent part, using it as a case-study. But let us begin by defining what they mean. Majority rule is “a political principle providing that a majority, usually constituted by fifty percent plus one of an organized group will have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole.” The key point in this definition is: fifty one percent of the whole. Party partisanship or loyalty is “a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person, especially one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance.” The definitions are not mine but that of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and this point is made to exonerate one from charges of bias or even prejudice by some of my readers.
An ‘organized group’ in this case means a political party and not an ethnic group, since the country’s constitution forbids the formation of parties on ethnic basis. It only means that political like-minds irrespective of ethnic affiliation attracted to a party’s manifestoes would vote the same way at all times for the party’s candidates or position. A majority is the largest number of the votes cast in an election, whether it is the nomination process of a party or a general election. Here is where population or numerical strength comes in; the number being that of people of voting age who choose to exercise their franchise.
Again, it should be noted that a group may constitute a majority only when they prove it by the exercise of their voting rights in a particular way. Therefore, there is no permanent ethnic majority in a plural political setting, except if a people choose to firmly adhere to a party or person, especially those ‘exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance.’ Having set the template for this discourse, we can now reveal the specifics of the state in this case study.
Kogi state is made up of Ebira, Igala and Okun ethnic groups as the three major tribal groupings with about eight other smaller ethnic groups. In numerical strength, Igala comes first closely followed by the Ebira and Okun. The ruling party in the state is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has majority adherents in the three senatorial districts. The Igala has ruled the state since 1992 (except during the military regime of Abacha) and the PDP and five other leading parties has again fielded or has nominated their candidates from the Igala ethnic group of Kogi East Senatorial District. So also did about seven other parties, except the SDMP which nominated theirs from Kogi Central and the Convention Peoples Party with its candidate from Kogi West, but whose chances of victory is next to nil, given the relative weakness of their parties in the state. It needs to be recalled that Abubakar Audu ruled the state from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2003. His fellow Igala tribesman Ibrahim Idris took over in 2003, re-elected in 2007 and had a judicial extension of his tenure which terminates by 2012 – at which time, the Igala would have ruled Kogi State for 15 out of its 20 years in existence as a state.
Can we attribute Igala’s dominance of governance to their numerical strength? My own humble answer is both yes and no, based on the fact that Igalas are found in all parties with some presence in the state, a fact which manifested in 13 out of the 15 parties participating in the next gubernatorial race picking their candidates from among the Igala. Other ethnic groups are also found in other parties as well. Therefore, ethnic numerical strength does not necessarily translate to a party’s political strength, especially where no ethnic group constitute up to 50% of the state. The Igala is known to be about 45% of the population and since their candidates are in 13 parties, their votes will be split and so their numerical strength has little advantage. Can we say that the Igala is more adept in governance than other ethnic groups in the state?
Since there is no basis for comparison, it is out of place to attribute their dominance of governance to adeptness. Until the Ebira, the Okun or any other ethnic group has ruled the state, there is no standard to measure the quality of governance in the state. However, if comparison is made between the Abubakar Audu and the Ibrahim Idris’s regimes, both could be described as a disaster in degrees. While Audu made efforts in infrastructural development, his high hubris and poor public relations was counter-productive and obstructive. As for Ibrahim Idris, we may need to wait for an eleventh hour miracle and since this can happen at anytime in the six months left to his regime, lets not be in hurry to judge him too early. What is obviously going on for the Igala is their power of incumbency which is often deployed to manipulate the primaries of the party in government to produce successors from among the Igala – a practice which some other parties has adopted in the hope and belief that the incumbent Igala governor would manipulate votes in their favour since their candidates are fellow Igala. This hope or belief has worked twice in the past: when there was disagreement within the SDP in 1992 and acrimony in PDP in 1999, the alternatives were the NRC and the ANPP who had Igala candidates and who won by protest votes. But except for blind, prejudiced and unreasoning allegiance to a party, the other ethnic groups in the PDP could as well choose to vote against their own party who would always impose an Igala candidate on them by default or design. As it is at present, if the internal crisis in the PDP is not resolved before the election, Gov. Ibrahim Idris will have no option than allow or help manipulate any of the 13 Igala candidates into power come 2012.
The protest votes that produced Prince Abubakar Audu twice in 1992 and 1999 were not solely Igala votes but the votes of the entire electorate of Kogi State. If other ethnic groups could vote against their party in protest, couldn’t the Igala vote against their own tribesman in favour of candidates from other ethnic groups? From experience of history, political monopoly breeds hatred for the monopolist. A government formed on the basis of a make-belief majority cannot be a legitimate government and would therefore, lack authority to act on behalf of the people. The concept of majority rule in a multi-ethnic state is adherence of the majority to a party and its programmes as contained in its manifesto-not to a tribe. However, if a tribe is bent on monopolizing power and ethno-centric in governance, they should remember that self determination is a universal right of all ethnic nationalities and no one can be forced to remain a subservient citizen in a state that works to diminish their citizenship rights through make-belief majority rule. In other words, if Kogi State is conceived and run as an Igala State, then other ethnic nationalities has the option of opting out of the state, in the exercise of their rights of self-determination and freedom of association-which are even superior to the concept of majority rule. It is even better for the Igala to seek for a state of their own than to rule the multi-ethnic state in perpetuity.
On the other hand, it is not fair to blame the Igala for the inability of the Ebira, Okun and other ethnic groups to organize themselves for the challenges of political power. Except in Nigeria (and has it not failed?), power is not rotated; power is something to be fought for and won. At best, power is devolved so that there is no need for contention among the different nationalities and cultures in a polity. However, to blame other ethnic groups for their apparent weakness in power contest is to misunderstand the issue at stake and add insult to injury. There was no known agreement or terms for co-habitation for the diverse ethnic groups in Kogi State or even the entire country as a whole. Kogi State and Nigeria came into being by military fiat. A state that was created on the basis of presumptions can never be stable, just and fair, or progressive. The nature of politics and power demands that consenting peoples must have a written agreement spelling out the terms of co-habitation, the breach of which terminates the agreement or dissolves the union. The absence of a binding constitution on the state and the imposition of a constitution on Nigerians is one principal reason for the lack of equity and fairness in our affairs. If Kogi State or Nigeria proceeds or continues with the present presumptions, power monopoly through manipulations will continue to be our lot- and the outcome will remain a make-believe majority rule. Well, if this will water the seed of the quest for self-determination, why not?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Plague on the Plateau
By Mas Damisa
(Guest Columnist)
The history of riots on the Plateau is a fairly long one, given the labor malpractices of the mining companies which came to undermine the indigenous people of old Plateau Province. With their imported laborers from neighboring Provinces, the mining companies detested the local people who were not particularly keen to work for or with the mining companies. Of course, a people reserve the right to choose what occupation to engage in, more especially if they had alternatives and if the one on offer-working in the mine pits-also despoil their soil upon their toil. The few who ventured into the pits were discriminated against in favour of the imported labourers-the latter being made to feel they were special. This attitude was buoyed by the colonial political practice of divide – and – rule and the revenue the government was raking in through the taxes the mining companies were paying.
The mining industries attracted subsidiary concerns involved in the supplies of materials and again, most of the suppliers were also from the same source and stock of the ever-increasing labourers. Again, petty traders in kola nut and cigar rates began to flock into Jos to supply the needs of the mining workers who seemed addicted to nicotine and caffeine-containing chewing nuts. These hawkers, labourers and petty contractors were more in number in the mining industry and constituted a veritable force as against the relatively weak position of the local mining personnel. Moreover, the settlers were of the same religious persuasion and from Islamic Caliphate provinces compared to the pagan Christian Provinces of the indigenes as was classified by the Colonialists.
If the economic and political equation were unbalanced as it were, coupled with the different religious faiths, the differences between the indigenous population and the settlers came out in bold relief – these being the seed of the mutual suspicion and lack of tolerance between Plateau people and their caliphate guests. The mutual intolerance seemed to be actively promoted by military regimes who often posted non-indigenes to Plateau State (like other states) who didn’t understand the prevailing relationship of the populace. Note that it was not the caliphate people alone who went to Jos to work in the mines. There are other Nigerians who arrived there even earlier but who do not exhibit a superior religious or ethnic mentality and so, were able to co-exist in peace with the local people.
It is not clear if security agencies and the various panels of inquiry has ever adverted their minds to the nature and beliefs of the two opposing religions as a causative factor in the endless blood letting on the Plateau. On one hand, Islam is seen and practiced as a universal culture and as a means of organizing a community for common goals and objectives; which is why it is called or described as a way of life. On the other hand, Christianity prepares people for eternity in heaven and teaches them not to indulge in the affairs of this world but to endure as pilgrims since this planet earth is regarded as a pilgrimage. While one faith makes no distinction between politics and religion, the other puts the two in different compartments; and while one brooks no rivalry, the other finds accommodation with other religious beliefs. These are a few differences between these two religious faiths.
Perhaps it is pertinent here to contemplate the culture and customs of the indigenous people of the Plateau to see if they suffer from a persecution complex. If they do, then it appears related to the ‘born-rulership’ mentality of their caliphate guests as such complex finds no expression in their relationship with other Nigerians.
However, one fundamental truth is lost in the practice of religion in Nigeria. This truth is the freedom of the individual to choose and practice a religion without being forced by any one. In this vein, compulsion is ruled out and enclaves can not be justified, but here is where we fail as a country. Certain people from certain area believes so much in living in exclusive enclaves in their own lands as well as wherever they domicile and so, makes integration between the peoples of Nigeria impossible. Where one is not resident in the land of his birth and yet seek to live as if he is at home and abroad at the same time, it poses a challenge to his hosts as their fundamental human rights are being trampled upon. Moreover, it is a fundamental error of judgment to accord oneself the freedom to impose your whims on others while you tolerate no such thing in your own homeland. Universally and from ages past, inter-personal and group relationship is reciprocal and this is why diplomatic relations are established between nations regardless of the size, strength and values of those in the relationship.
Security agencies and panels of inquiry should take time to study the differences in religious practice and see where any group employs compulsion or imposition which infringes on the rights of the other group. Any religious or cultural practice that seeks to isolate others in a cosmopolitan setting has the potential of igniting clashes. And any group that insists on forcing their ways and beliefs on others should be told to desist or return to their homeland of origin. The freedom of citizens to live and work at any where of their choice does not include the license to imposes personal or group whims on others. Human lives are equally valuable and since no religion creates a life, none is permitted to take life under whatever pretence or excuse.
Plateau State is home to some notable army generals such as Domkat Bali, Joshua Dogonyaro, J.T. Useni, John Shagaya and police chiefs like Potter Dabup e.t.c. Yet, their state became a land of occupation by human predators that raids towns of their choice without appropriate response or determent. What else could account for this than the effects of divide-and-rule tactics from colonial times? How the streets and villages did have their names changed from the native names to none-native languages. Why is it that the Hausa language they use as local lingual Franca could not unite them? Who among them is collaborating with outsiders to destabilize the state for selfish gains? When will they realize that an attack on one ethnic group in the state is an attack on others when it is their turn? Does it not occur to them that no such attacks are taking place in Sokoto, Kano or Katsina against indigenes of those towns by their settlers?
It is not too difficult to note that during military regimes, those who claim to own Nigeria used remote control to influence affairs disproportionately in their own favour, and that the advent of democracy empowers the indigenes to rule themselves and terminate such remote control. The civil regimes of Chief Solomon Lar and Joshua Dariye suffered series of challenges to their regimes, not on the basis of their performances or lack of it, but because they are indigenes of Plateau. Jonah David Jang has not fared better, not because he favours Birom above other ethnic groups in the state anymore than Lar and Dariye did for their own, but for the same reason that a Plateau man is governing the state with Plateau interests at heart. Dariye was shoved aside by way of a state of emergency and a sole administrator appointed, not because he was a non-performer-and he did not perform-but because those trouble-makers were uncomfortable with an indigene ruling the state. From all accounts, Jang has been doing a yeoman’s job trying to restore development and peace to the state; yet certain Nigerians resident in the state are uncomfortable with him.
If Jang is stubborn as is being canvassed by detractors and local collaborators, was Dariye also stubborn and unyielding? By the way, to who are they supposed to yield: to the interest and desires of the people of the state or to a select group of self-ordained born rulers? The unfortunate fact is that most institutions of state are colonially oriented and orientated and as such, are mere instruments or tools in the of hands of those remote-controlling them. Or else, why do you think that the Nigerian Army could not do a simple job of peace keeping without becoming partisan? When bombs are being detonated, the Army claimed that they are “improvised explosive devices” and not bombs! Yet, explosives and bombs do the same damage to persons and property!
How come those Army personnel are found escorting raiders and arsonists in Plateau State? Has any tailor been arrested for illegally sewing army or police uniforms? If imported, who are the importers and who awarded them the contract? These questions cannot be truthfully and truly answered by a colonial-oriented army or police. The plague on the Plateau is a miniature of the plague on Nigeria. Those who cannot live in peace in Plateau will do well to relocate back to their state or country of origin and leave Nigeria alone.
(Guest Columnist)
The history of riots on the Plateau is a fairly long one, given the labor malpractices of the mining companies which came to undermine the indigenous people of old Plateau Province. With their imported laborers from neighboring Provinces, the mining companies detested the local people who were not particularly keen to work for or with the mining companies. Of course, a people reserve the right to choose what occupation to engage in, more especially if they had alternatives and if the one on offer-working in the mine pits-also despoil their soil upon their toil. The few who ventured into the pits were discriminated against in favour of the imported labourers-the latter being made to feel they were special. This attitude was buoyed by the colonial political practice of divide – and – rule and the revenue the government was raking in through the taxes the mining companies were paying.
The mining industries attracted subsidiary concerns involved in the supplies of materials and again, most of the suppliers were also from the same source and stock of the ever-increasing labourers. Again, petty traders in kola nut and cigar rates began to flock into Jos to supply the needs of the mining workers who seemed addicted to nicotine and caffeine-containing chewing nuts. These hawkers, labourers and petty contractors were more in number in the mining industry and constituted a veritable force as against the relatively weak position of the local mining personnel. Moreover, the settlers were of the same religious persuasion and from Islamic Caliphate provinces compared to the pagan Christian Provinces of the indigenes as was classified by the Colonialists.
If the economic and political equation were unbalanced as it were, coupled with the different religious faiths, the differences between the indigenous population and the settlers came out in bold relief – these being the seed of the mutual suspicion and lack of tolerance between Plateau people and their caliphate guests. The mutual intolerance seemed to be actively promoted by military regimes who often posted non-indigenes to Plateau State (like other states) who didn’t understand the prevailing relationship of the populace. Note that it was not the caliphate people alone who went to Jos to work in the mines. There are other Nigerians who arrived there even earlier but who do not exhibit a superior religious or ethnic mentality and so, were able to co-exist in peace with the local people.
It is not clear if security agencies and the various panels of inquiry has ever adverted their minds to the nature and beliefs of the two opposing religions as a causative factor in the endless blood letting on the Plateau. On one hand, Islam is seen and practiced as a universal culture and as a means of organizing a community for common goals and objectives; which is why it is called or described as a way of life. On the other hand, Christianity prepares people for eternity in heaven and teaches them not to indulge in the affairs of this world but to endure as pilgrims since this planet earth is regarded as a pilgrimage. While one faith makes no distinction between politics and religion, the other puts the two in different compartments; and while one brooks no rivalry, the other finds accommodation with other religious beliefs. These are a few differences between these two religious faiths.
Perhaps it is pertinent here to contemplate the culture and customs of the indigenous people of the Plateau to see if they suffer from a persecution complex. If they do, then it appears related to the ‘born-rulership’ mentality of their caliphate guests as such complex finds no expression in their relationship with other Nigerians.
However, one fundamental truth is lost in the practice of religion in Nigeria. This truth is the freedom of the individual to choose and practice a religion without being forced by any one. In this vein, compulsion is ruled out and enclaves can not be justified, but here is where we fail as a country. Certain people from certain area believes so much in living in exclusive enclaves in their own lands as well as wherever they domicile and so, makes integration between the peoples of Nigeria impossible. Where one is not resident in the land of his birth and yet seek to live as if he is at home and abroad at the same time, it poses a challenge to his hosts as their fundamental human rights are being trampled upon. Moreover, it is a fundamental error of judgment to accord oneself the freedom to impose your whims on others while you tolerate no such thing in your own homeland. Universally and from ages past, inter-personal and group relationship is reciprocal and this is why diplomatic relations are established between nations regardless of the size, strength and values of those in the relationship.
Security agencies and panels of inquiry should take time to study the differences in religious practice and see where any group employs compulsion or imposition which infringes on the rights of the other group. Any religious or cultural practice that seeks to isolate others in a cosmopolitan setting has the potential of igniting clashes. And any group that insists on forcing their ways and beliefs on others should be told to desist or return to their homeland of origin. The freedom of citizens to live and work at any where of their choice does not include the license to imposes personal or group whims on others. Human lives are equally valuable and since no religion creates a life, none is permitted to take life under whatever pretence or excuse.
Plateau State is home to some notable army generals such as Domkat Bali, Joshua Dogonyaro, J.T. Useni, John Shagaya and police chiefs like Potter Dabup e.t.c. Yet, their state became a land of occupation by human predators that raids towns of their choice without appropriate response or determent. What else could account for this than the effects of divide-and-rule tactics from colonial times? How the streets and villages did have their names changed from the native names to none-native languages. Why is it that the Hausa language they use as local lingual Franca could not unite them? Who among them is collaborating with outsiders to destabilize the state for selfish gains? When will they realize that an attack on one ethnic group in the state is an attack on others when it is their turn? Does it not occur to them that no such attacks are taking place in Sokoto, Kano or Katsina against indigenes of those towns by their settlers?
It is not too difficult to note that during military regimes, those who claim to own Nigeria used remote control to influence affairs disproportionately in their own favour, and that the advent of democracy empowers the indigenes to rule themselves and terminate such remote control. The civil regimes of Chief Solomon Lar and Joshua Dariye suffered series of challenges to their regimes, not on the basis of their performances or lack of it, but because they are indigenes of Plateau. Jonah David Jang has not fared better, not because he favours Birom above other ethnic groups in the state anymore than Lar and Dariye did for their own, but for the same reason that a Plateau man is governing the state with Plateau interests at heart. Dariye was shoved aside by way of a state of emergency and a sole administrator appointed, not because he was a non-performer-and he did not perform-but because those trouble-makers were uncomfortable with an indigene ruling the state. From all accounts, Jang has been doing a yeoman’s job trying to restore development and peace to the state; yet certain Nigerians resident in the state are uncomfortable with him.
If Jang is stubborn as is being canvassed by detractors and local collaborators, was Dariye also stubborn and unyielding? By the way, to who are they supposed to yield: to the interest and desires of the people of the state or to a select group of self-ordained born rulers? The unfortunate fact is that most institutions of state are colonially oriented and orientated and as such, are mere instruments or tools in the of hands of those remote-controlling them. Or else, why do you think that the Nigerian Army could not do a simple job of peace keeping without becoming partisan? When bombs are being detonated, the Army claimed that they are “improvised explosive devices” and not bombs! Yet, explosives and bombs do the same damage to persons and property!
How come those Army personnel are found escorting raiders and arsonists in Plateau State? Has any tailor been arrested for illegally sewing army or police uniforms? If imported, who are the importers and who awarded them the contract? These questions cannot be truthfully and truly answered by a colonial-oriented army or police. The plague on the Plateau is a miniature of the plague on Nigeria. Those who cannot live in peace in Plateau will do well to relocate back to their state or country of origin and leave Nigeria alone.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Face of a New Nigeria
By Sam Onimisi
Nigeria as a geographical expression or political entity has changed size once and in 1961, when the Southern part of the then United Nations Trust Territory elected via plebiscite to join the Republic of Cameroon. Its Northern part later known as the Sardauna Province chose to remain a part of Nigeria through the same plebiscite after a promise by the late Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Region of Nigeria that they will be accorded the status of a Province. In effect, the Nigerian map has to be redrawn to reflect the reality of the loss of the Southern part of the trust Territory to Cameroon.
Ironically, and in 2005, Nigeria again lost the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in the aftermath of a judicial decision by the International Court of Justice at The Hague. One is not sure if the Nigerian map has been adjusted to reflect current realities even as Cameroon was said to have lost some villages to Nigeria, courtesy of the same court rulings. What these implies is that the territorial integrity of Nigeria have twice been assailed albeit, peacefully.
Once when a violent method was adopted to interfere with the country’s territorial map, a bloody civil war ensued and was fought for nearly three years with the loss of over One Million precious lives. Experience has shown that the territorial integrity of Nigeria and indeed any other country could remain inviolate only through internal mutual understanding and agreement. When and where deliberate actions are taken to hold down a people and their territory by force of arms against the wishes of the people (Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union and the Sudan are contemporary examples), what results is either violent or peaceful disintegration.
Through several painstaking constitutional conferences in Lagos and London between 1957 and 1959, Nigeria’s leaders agreed to a federal structure and system of government, which resulted into the three initial regions of pre-1960 independence, until the fourth was created in 1963. Meaning that, the four regions of the first republic were products of dialogue, bargaining, discussion, disagreements ending in agreement! And because the regions reflected to a certain extent, the true wishes of the people and fitted the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature of the heterogeneity of Nigeria, the country remained in a healthy competition until in 1962 when the federal government embarked on meddlesomeness in regional affairs.
The map of Nigeria has changed internally about seven times since 1960; first in 1961, second in 1963, third in 1967, then followed by the 1976 states creation exercises carried out by fiat of the autocratic military regimes of Generals Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha respectively. In effect, the 36 states structure and the unitary system of government which exists today are reflections of the military potentates who arrogated to themselves a monopoly of wisdom, understanding and patriotism of how Nigeria should be.
The peculiar wisdom which the various military regimes pretended they had, which informed the arbitrary creation of the 36 states geopolitical structure and, the entrenchment of a unitary system of government that grants a near absolute power to the individual head of government (either at the national, state or local council level) has been identified as the single most destructive factor that corroded the internal autonomy of the ethnic peoples of Nigeria. No miltary leader has ever admitted to his infallibility in this regard, and none is now expected to so agree. For one thing, their empty pride of phoney valour will not allow them; for another, the beneficiaries of these phantom and arbitrary geopolitical creations will continue to justify their fraudulent gains.
Yet, the deep-seated mistrust among Nigerian ethnic nationalities which often expresses itself via coup detat, sabotage of impotant state policies, and which stifles creativity and invention, has its roots in the artificiality of the states created by fiat, and the monopoly of power (the authority to share resources and dispense patronage) bestowed on individuals by the presidential (executive) system of government. The result? Ethno-religious riots, religious bigotry and unreasoned fundamentalism, economic and public utilities sabotage for personal gains and systemic failure etc.
The only set of people who enjoy the present system of government and the prevailing geo-political structures are: those powers-that-be feasting on the common-wealth of Nigeria without corresponding contribution or productivity. Of course, the system is oiled by consortia of individual vassals and ethno-regional vassalages who, as clients of their self-chosen masters, also desire that the rotten system continues. Without doubt, the percentage of these leeches on the political economy has not been properly estimated. Again without doubt, they are in minute minority!
What is also not in doubt is that the structure and the system cannot propel or sustain a progressively productive Nigeria. It is infact glaring that it has dragged the country beyond stagnation into retrogression. The evidence? When routine and pedestrain role or duty by government is performed and such is hailed as a miracle. Some 25 years ago, Nigeria was the leading frontline state that helped South Africa defeats the aparthied system. Today, Nigeria lags behind her in democratic and economic progress. Ghana is another hitherto beneficiary of Nigeria’s economic largesse but which today, shines brighter than Nigeria in indices of a stable and progressive polity and economy.
The unwillingness of our ex-military rulers to accept blame or admit their mistakes makes them blame their civillian collaborators fo the woes they brought upon their country. One would have thought that the first thing is to agree to your crime, and then you may begin to point fingers at your accomplices. Those who are parading themselves as statesmen today ought to be languishing in jail for their heinous crime against the country. But here is a country where all laws seems designed to work in reverse order and so, those who should stand condemned are celebrated!.
In all autocratic and treason-infected governments, the first casualty is the truth, after which facts are stood on their heads, at which reasons takes flight and whims cum caprices takes full control. In these circumstances, all talks of patriotism is sheer bunkum and all decisions supposedly taken in the interest of the public is a smokescreen, as the benefit of such decisions ends in the tummy and private purses of the decision makers. If this is patriotism, what then is high treason?
Admittedly,our military rulers are Nigerians and would remain so inspite of their crimes against us. Therefore, we cannot continue recrimination over their past criminality and infinitium if we genuinely want to move forward away from the rot. This is with the hope that they too will not obstruct our quest for forward march. However, is their past mistakes and misrule not impediments to our progress today?
The necessary lessons to be learnt from all these are many but two appear to be germane at the moment: one is that if the map of Nigeria has to change in 1961 and after the loss of Bakassi, and if the internal structure had changed five times since 1963, then there is nothing sacrosanct about the map of Nigeria that could not accommodate a new internal restructuring. The second lesson is that the proposed restructuring will come against deeply entrenched interests and privileges from where resistance should naturally be expected. No problem has ever been overcome, until it is confronted. But what is the attitude of the average Nigerian to confrontation? Acquiescence! Is that how to solve problems and overcome challenges? You may ask again!!
(This article was first published in 2008 by Our VISION magazine and is republished with a few additions)
Nigeria as a geographical expression or political entity has changed size once and in 1961, when the Southern part of the then United Nations Trust Territory elected via plebiscite to join the Republic of Cameroon. Its Northern part later known as the Sardauna Province chose to remain a part of Nigeria through the same plebiscite after a promise by the late Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Region of Nigeria that they will be accorded the status of a Province. In effect, the Nigerian map has to be redrawn to reflect the reality of the loss of the Southern part of the trust Territory to Cameroon.
Ironically, and in 2005, Nigeria again lost the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in the aftermath of a judicial decision by the International Court of Justice at The Hague. One is not sure if the Nigerian map has been adjusted to reflect current realities even as Cameroon was said to have lost some villages to Nigeria, courtesy of the same court rulings. What these implies is that the territorial integrity of Nigeria have twice been assailed albeit, peacefully.
Once when a violent method was adopted to interfere with the country’s territorial map, a bloody civil war ensued and was fought for nearly three years with the loss of over One Million precious lives. Experience has shown that the territorial integrity of Nigeria and indeed any other country could remain inviolate only through internal mutual understanding and agreement. When and where deliberate actions are taken to hold down a people and their territory by force of arms against the wishes of the people (Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union and the Sudan are contemporary examples), what results is either violent or peaceful disintegration.
Through several painstaking constitutional conferences in Lagos and London between 1957 and 1959, Nigeria’s leaders agreed to a federal structure and system of government, which resulted into the three initial regions of pre-1960 independence, until the fourth was created in 1963. Meaning that, the four regions of the first republic were products of dialogue, bargaining, discussion, disagreements ending in agreement! And because the regions reflected to a certain extent, the true wishes of the people and fitted the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature of the heterogeneity of Nigeria, the country remained in a healthy competition until in 1962 when the federal government embarked on meddlesomeness in regional affairs.
The map of Nigeria has changed internally about seven times since 1960; first in 1961, second in 1963, third in 1967, then followed by the 1976 states creation exercises carried out by fiat of the autocratic military regimes of Generals Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha respectively. In effect, the 36 states structure and the unitary system of government which exists today are reflections of the military potentates who arrogated to themselves a monopoly of wisdom, understanding and patriotism of how Nigeria should be.
The peculiar wisdom which the various military regimes pretended they had, which informed the arbitrary creation of the 36 states geopolitical structure and, the entrenchment of a unitary system of government that grants a near absolute power to the individual head of government (either at the national, state or local council level) has been identified as the single most destructive factor that corroded the internal autonomy of the ethnic peoples of Nigeria. No miltary leader has ever admitted to his infallibility in this regard, and none is now expected to so agree. For one thing, their empty pride of phoney valour will not allow them; for another, the beneficiaries of these phantom and arbitrary geopolitical creations will continue to justify their fraudulent gains.
Yet, the deep-seated mistrust among Nigerian ethnic nationalities which often expresses itself via coup detat, sabotage of impotant state policies, and which stifles creativity and invention, has its roots in the artificiality of the states created by fiat, and the monopoly of power (the authority to share resources and dispense patronage) bestowed on individuals by the presidential (executive) system of government. The result? Ethno-religious riots, religious bigotry and unreasoned fundamentalism, economic and public utilities sabotage for personal gains and systemic failure etc.
The only set of people who enjoy the present system of government and the prevailing geo-political structures are: those powers-that-be feasting on the common-wealth of Nigeria without corresponding contribution or productivity. Of course, the system is oiled by consortia of individual vassals and ethno-regional vassalages who, as clients of their self-chosen masters, also desire that the rotten system continues. Without doubt, the percentage of these leeches on the political economy has not been properly estimated. Again without doubt, they are in minute minority!
What is also not in doubt is that the structure and the system cannot propel or sustain a progressively productive Nigeria. It is infact glaring that it has dragged the country beyond stagnation into retrogression. The evidence? When routine and pedestrain role or duty by government is performed and such is hailed as a miracle. Some 25 years ago, Nigeria was the leading frontline state that helped South Africa defeats the aparthied system. Today, Nigeria lags behind her in democratic and economic progress. Ghana is another hitherto beneficiary of Nigeria’s economic largesse but which today, shines brighter than Nigeria in indices of a stable and progressive polity and economy.
The unwillingness of our ex-military rulers to accept blame or admit their mistakes makes them blame their civillian collaborators fo the woes they brought upon their country. One would have thought that the first thing is to agree to your crime, and then you may begin to point fingers at your accomplices. Those who are parading themselves as statesmen today ought to be languishing in jail for their heinous crime against the country. But here is a country where all laws seems designed to work in reverse order and so, those who should stand condemned are celebrated!.
In all autocratic and treason-infected governments, the first casualty is the truth, after which facts are stood on their heads, at which reasons takes flight and whims cum caprices takes full control. In these circumstances, all talks of patriotism is sheer bunkum and all decisions supposedly taken in the interest of the public is a smokescreen, as the benefit of such decisions ends in the tummy and private purses of the decision makers. If this is patriotism, what then is high treason?
Admittedly,our military rulers are Nigerians and would remain so inspite of their crimes against us. Therefore, we cannot continue recrimination over their past criminality and infinitium if we genuinely want to move forward away from the rot. This is with the hope that they too will not obstruct our quest for forward march. However, is their past mistakes and misrule not impediments to our progress today?
The necessary lessons to be learnt from all these are many but two appear to be germane at the moment: one is that if the map of Nigeria has to change in 1961 and after the loss of Bakassi, and if the internal structure had changed five times since 1963, then there is nothing sacrosanct about the map of Nigeria that could not accommodate a new internal restructuring. The second lesson is that the proposed restructuring will come against deeply entrenched interests and privileges from where resistance should naturally be expected. No problem has ever been overcome, until it is confronted. But what is the attitude of the average Nigerian to confrontation? Acquiescence! Is that how to solve problems and overcome challenges? You may ask again!!
(This article was first published in 2008 by Our VISION magazine and is republished with a few additions)
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Nigeria: Will it break?
By Sam Onimisi
This is the continuation of the debate on the future of Nigeria by those concerned by the lack of peace and progress of the most populous country in the African continent. Members of the board of governors of the Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Movement (NENAM) decided to join issues with Mr. President and the Movement for a New Nigeria (MNN) on the possibility or otherwise of disintegration of the country. Five members of the board has last week, aired their opinion sitting various occurrences and incidences militating against the country’s unity. In this edition, other members have their say, and hereunder are excerpts.
Convener: A few months back, I wrote on the reasons and causes of the fall of fourteen nation-states in about four continents in contemporary history and concluded by asking if Nigeria should not make amends in order to escape similar fate. Then the UN building bombing by the Boko Haram terrorist group happened and President Goodluck Jonathan seized the occasion to reassure the people that Nigeria will not break up. In the last week debate, many reasons were adduced on why the President’s optimism was misplaced. However, two members are yet to have their say.
Sarah Lami Raji: The unity of Nigeria is questionable not only for the reasons adduced by earlier speakers but for other reasons that has to do with core family values. The fact is that if the nuclear family is not at peace, the community and the nation cannot have peace. Here in Nigeria, we treat women as if they do not matter in the affairs of state. The men folk are allowed to mess up the polity and the resultant crisis consumes the women and their children the most vulnerable members of society in crisis. Take for instance the June 12, 1993 crisis. For God’s sake, someone was cleared by security agencies to run for an election. On his way to victory, the same government whose security arms declared the contestant fit to run has his election halted and annulled. The injury done to Chief M.K.O. Abiola as an individual was enough to make him and his family disavows the country. The crisis generated by that silly action nearly tore the country apart. The psyche of the Yoruba people was badly battered and their reaction was loud enough to raise serious ripples in the polity. And then the man died in controversial circumstances which suggested a state murder. Up till now, no enquiry was officially held to determine who and what was responsible for the assassination. The case of Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’adua often used to counterbalance Abiola’s murder was completely different. General Yar’adua was injected to death in 1996 to terminate his perceived threat to Abacha’s regime. He was killed by a fellow Northern Muslim General and so, the grief was mitigated by that ethno-religious factor. But who killed Abiola, even after the usurper of his mandate had died? There are three deaths whose blood is on the neck of the leadership of Nigeria: Shehu Musa Yar’adua, Chief M.K.O Abiola and Sani Abacha. Their wives were made widows prematurely and their children orphans; the effects of their traumatic death on their children, their families and friends cannot be quantified. The damage done to political faith and espirit-de-corps in the army are incalculable. These harms helped to destroy mutual trust between and among the various ethnic groups in Nigeria which also divided us along religious and regional lines. How do you boast of indivisibility when the blood of criminality is crying to heavens for revenge or redress? Now, we are adding more blood to our already bloodied hands via the Boko Haram lunacy. What the MEND is doing to our economy, the Haramites are inflicting on our lives and no government has the moral authority to do justice. Is the break of the country not imminent? If not, what is the government doing to stem the tide? Is unity a talking or doing matter?
Isaac Umar: It grieves me each time I hear some people say that the carnage being perpetrated across the country through bomb throwing is not a religious war. What else is it if not a Jihad? Some of us from the North who are non-Muslims have become endangered species simply because we choose a different religion from our parents. We are grouped along Middle betters for extermination and yet, when we are found to be of Hausa or Fulani stock, we are treated with suspicion and distrust. So, we suffer double rejection by both sides, yet we find accommodation more with the Middle belters who merely suspect us than our ethnic kith and kin who will kill us on religious ground. The objective of the Boko Haram like their predecessors are two: they want Sharia law applied to all states in Nigeria and they want only Muslims to rule the country. Many of us were frustrated from the Northern States civil service on account of religion. The Jihad which flushed us out was a subtle one and so Jihad has many methods and phases. For this reason, we are more interested in the unity of a secular Nigeria than her break-up. A Kano or Sokoto republic will certainly be an Islamic enclave that will render some of us as non-citizens or stateless people. However, what type of a republic do we have at the moment which covers up crimes against society? Can a polity or country remain united amidst pretense and lies? Some four years ago during the regime of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, the SSS arrested and arraigned suspected members of Al-Queida and the Taliban. About ten of them were arrested across Yobe, Borno and Kano States. At about the same time, the Kano State Ministry of Justice charged five persons to court for terrorism. They were accused of having travelled to Algeria to train at a terrorist camp. It was also the same time that security agencies of the United States and the Western world averred that there were active cells of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Nigeria. What happened thereafter was anybody’s guess. The Sultan of Sokoto and head of the Muslim community went to the United States at the Institute of Peace in Washington to declare that “there is no Al-Qaeda cell or the Taliban in Nigeria.” His spokesman at that event was Danladi Boko, a member of the Sultan’s entourage. If three years later, the same associates of Al-Qaeda and Taliban are throwing bombs in Nigeria, who should be invited for questioning? So, when a colleague said that there are jihadists who pretend to be peacemakers, we know whom he was referring to. Our laws are respecters of persons and law enforcers recognize sacred cows. What is a rule elsewhere is an exception in Nigeria as no big man ever plays by the rules, and yet the law never catches up with them. The question of choice in religious faith is as fundamental as the question of ethnic feelings and affiliation. It is for the individual to choose for which of the two he or she could die. The Boko Haram has choosen to kill and die for their religion and if others elect to defend themselves by the same means where the unity or indissolubility of Nigeria lies?
Convener: The task of keeping Nigeria one is a task for all and not just for those in government. However, the difference is: those in government are especially mandated to use the common wealth to ensure our welfare and unity, so they have special responsibility for which they are paid. Those outside can only support genuine efforts of government in that direction; the problem is that there is nothing visible or ongoing to which can be pointed as a programme to allay our fears or assure us that our welfare and safety are of concern to those in government. Occasional declaration of opinion such as ‘Nigeria will not break’ in the wake of a real threat to the contrary is not expected to be taken seriously which is what triggered off this debate. No informed citizen believes that the so-called inter-religious council is a forum for religious peace when some of its leaders are perceived to be the patron-saint of bombers. It is only the security agencies that are licensed to check individuals suspected to be of criminal bent. I have no ability to sniff from a royal turban what may turn out to be an improvised explosive device, that job belongs to the security agencies who, unfortunately are wont to treat such suspects as untouchable deities. Whoever has journeyed abroad to declare or deny that there is no Al-Qaeda or Taliban cell in Nigeria owe us an explanation as to the difference between Boko Haram and either of the two Islamist terrorist groups. In all, we ought to begin to see that the geo-political structure and centralist system of government in place has proved inappropriate for our welfare or security. They only nurture and nourish individual potentates who plays chess with the lives and destiny of us all. A peaceful and positive action is better than a negative and violent reaction.
This is the continuation of the debate on the future of Nigeria by those concerned by the lack of peace and progress of the most populous country in the African continent. Members of the board of governors of the Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Movement (NENAM) decided to join issues with Mr. President and the Movement for a New Nigeria (MNN) on the possibility or otherwise of disintegration of the country. Five members of the board has last week, aired their opinion sitting various occurrences and incidences militating against the country’s unity. In this edition, other members have their say, and hereunder are excerpts.
Convener: A few months back, I wrote on the reasons and causes of the fall of fourteen nation-states in about four continents in contemporary history and concluded by asking if Nigeria should not make amends in order to escape similar fate. Then the UN building bombing by the Boko Haram terrorist group happened and President Goodluck Jonathan seized the occasion to reassure the people that Nigeria will not break up. In the last week debate, many reasons were adduced on why the President’s optimism was misplaced. However, two members are yet to have their say.
Sarah Lami Raji: The unity of Nigeria is questionable not only for the reasons adduced by earlier speakers but for other reasons that has to do with core family values. The fact is that if the nuclear family is not at peace, the community and the nation cannot have peace. Here in Nigeria, we treat women as if they do not matter in the affairs of state. The men folk are allowed to mess up the polity and the resultant crisis consumes the women and their children the most vulnerable members of society in crisis. Take for instance the June 12, 1993 crisis. For God’s sake, someone was cleared by security agencies to run for an election. On his way to victory, the same government whose security arms declared the contestant fit to run has his election halted and annulled. The injury done to Chief M.K.O. Abiola as an individual was enough to make him and his family disavows the country. The crisis generated by that silly action nearly tore the country apart. The psyche of the Yoruba people was badly battered and their reaction was loud enough to raise serious ripples in the polity. And then the man died in controversial circumstances which suggested a state murder. Up till now, no enquiry was officially held to determine who and what was responsible for the assassination. The case of Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’adua often used to counterbalance Abiola’s murder was completely different. General Yar’adua was injected to death in 1996 to terminate his perceived threat to Abacha’s regime. He was killed by a fellow Northern Muslim General and so, the grief was mitigated by that ethno-religious factor. But who killed Abiola, even after the usurper of his mandate had died? There are three deaths whose blood is on the neck of the leadership of Nigeria: Shehu Musa Yar’adua, Chief M.K.O Abiola and Sani Abacha. Their wives were made widows prematurely and their children orphans; the effects of their traumatic death on their children, their families and friends cannot be quantified. The damage done to political faith and espirit-de-corps in the army are incalculable. These harms helped to destroy mutual trust between and among the various ethnic groups in Nigeria which also divided us along religious and regional lines. How do you boast of indivisibility when the blood of criminality is crying to heavens for revenge or redress? Now, we are adding more blood to our already bloodied hands via the Boko Haram lunacy. What the MEND is doing to our economy, the Haramites are inflicting on our lives and no government has the moral authority to do justice. Is the break of the country not imminent? If not, what is the government doing to stem the tide? Is unity a talking or doing matter?
Isaac Umar: It grieves me each time I hear some people say that the carnage being perpetrated across the country through bomb throwing is not a religious war. What else is it if not a Jihad? Some of us from the North who are non-Muslims have become endangered species simply because we choose a different religion from our parents. We are grouped along Middle betters for extermination and yet, when we are found to be of Hausa or Fulani stock, we are treated with suspicion and distrust. So, we suffer double rejection by both sides, yet we find accommodation more with the Middle belters who merely suspect us than our ethnic kith and kin who will kill us on religious ground. The objective of the Boko Haram like their predecessors are two: they want Sharia law applied to all states in Nigeria and they want only Muslims to rule the country. Many of us were frustrated from the Northern States civil service on account of religion. The Jihad which flushed us out was a subtle one and so Jihad has many methods and phases. For this reason, we are more interested in the unity of a secular Nigeria than her break-up. A Kano or Sokoto republic will certainly be an Islamic enclave that will render some of us as non-citizens or stateless people. However, what type of a republic do we have at the moment which covers up crimes against society? Can a polity or country remain united amidst pretense and lies? Some four years ago during the regime of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, the SSS arrested and arraigned suspected members of Al-Queida and the Taliban. About ten of them were arrested across Yobe, Borno and Kano States. At about the same time, the Kano State Ministry of Justice charged five persons to court for terrorism. They were accused of having travelled to Algeria to train at a terrorist camp. It was also the same time that security agencies of the United States and the Western world averred that there were active cells of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Nigeria. What happened thereafter was anybody’s guess. The Sultan of Sokoto and head of the Muslim community went to the United States at the Institute of Peace in Washington to declare that “there is no Al-Qaeda cell or the Taliban in Nigeria.” His spokesman at that event was Danladi Boko, a member of the Sultan’s entourage. If three years later, the same associates of Al-Qaeda and Taliban are throwing bombs in Nigeria, who should be invited for questioning? So, when a colleague said that there are jihadists who pretend to be peacemakers, we know whom he was referring to. Our laws are respecters of persons and law enforcers recognize sacred cows. What is a rule elsewhere is an exception in Nigeria as no big man ever plays by the rules, and yet the law never catches up with them. The question of choice in religious faith is as fundamental as the question of ethnic feelings and affiliation. It is for the individual to choose for which of the two he or she could die. The Boko Haram has choosen to kill and die for their religion and if others elect to defend themselves by the same means where the unity or indissolubility of Nigeria lies?
Convener: The task of keeping Nigeria one is a task for all and not just for those in government. However, the difference is: those in government are especially mandated to use the common wealth to ensure our welfare and unity, so they have special responsibility for which they are paid. Those outside can only support genuine efforts of government in that direction; the problem is that there is nothing visible or ongoing to which can be pointed as a programme to allay our fears or assure us that our welfare and safety are of concern to those in government. Occasional declaration of opinion such as ‘Nigeria will not break’ in the wake of a real threat to the contrary is not expected to be taken seriously which is what triggered off this debate. No informed citizen believes that the so-called inter-religious council is a forum for religious peace when some of its leaders are perceived to be the patron-saint of bombers. It is only the security agencies that are licensed to check individuals suspected to be of criminal bent. I have no ability to sniff from a royal turban what may turn out to be an improvised explosive device, that job belongs to the security agencies who, unfortunately are wont to treat such suspects as untouchable deities. Whoever has journeyed abroad to declare or deny that there is no Al-Qaeda or Taliban cell in Nigeria owe us an explanation as to the difference between Boko Haram and either of the two Islamist terrorist groups. In all, we ought to begin to see that the geo-political structure and centralist system of government in place has proved inappropriate for our welfare or security. They only nurture and nourish individual potentates who plays chess with the lives and destiny of us all. A peaceful and positive action is better than a negative and violent reaction.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Will Nigeria Break Up?
Will Nigeria Break Up?
Sam Onimisi
(Following the bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja by the Boko Haram terrorist bandits, President Goodluck Jonathan reassured the nation that his government is on top of the situation and asserted that Nigeria will not break up by the threats of any terror group. The Movement for a New Nigeria (MNN) led by Barrister Tony Nnadi thought otherwise and canvassed their views via a TVC channels programme on Saturday 17 September, 2011. The board of Governors of the Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Movement (NENAM) got interested in the debate and here is their own contributions which are anchored by yours sincerely as the Convener).
Convener: What do you think informed the confidence of President Goodluck Jonathan to assert that Nigeria will remain one nation in spite of the ongoing tenor attacks and threats against the country’s unity?
Mas Damisa: Having studied him over the last four years, I have come to believe that President Jonathan is a mainstream politician from the school of Chief Dappa Biriye. As privileged members of a ruling clique, they lack the ability to think or ponder over the multi-dimensioned challenges of the country, especially as they affect the interest and future of minority groups. It is the likes of late Isaac Adaka Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa who feels for the down trodden and who had the courage to form the vanguard of the struggle to free the peoples of Nigeria, especially of the Niger – Delta from the shackles of neo-colonialism in Nigeria. Those who believe in the status quo cannot effect any radical changes and lacks the necessary vision to steer the ship of state on uncharted but more dynamic course. They are too smug to think of a radical route to emancipation.
Okechukwu Oha: I have no doubt in my mind that Nigeria cannot continue on her sleepy drive on a narrow and dangerous path way and not come to grief in time to come. Having had various threats of disintegration in the past, it is amazing that our leaders are still satisfied with lip service to the question of the unity of Nigeria. The first serious threat was the 1966 ‘Araba’ riot when the North embarked upon mass murder of the Igbo. ‘Araba’ means ‘let it be divided’. This was the reason and cause of the three-year Civil War during which over one million of lives were lost. The rest of Nigeria joined hands to defeat Biafra and thought that they did the country some good unknown to them that they only prolonged our collective suffering. The Boko Haramites of today were the same people who went on riot in 1953 just because Chief Enahoro had the courage to move a motion for Nigeria’s independence. They said they were not ready for freedom and so, we must all remain in bondage with them. Now, they are saying they never liked to be educated and so, are killing those who love education. Even when the Igbo decided again through the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the whole Nigerian security system were sent against the civil rights activists whom they hounded into detention. The message is that the Nigerian State respects only those who show violent strength and I suppose MASSOB should by now get the message.
Yemi Lawson: No nation here on earth is indissoluble and so, no one should be deceiving himself that our unity is iron cast. The Yoruba nation fell as a result of the Yoruba civil war, the aftermath of which was disunity, and this paved way for Jihadists and empire-builders to penetrate into Yoruba land. Today, they rule over us in Ilorin and we are not happy about that. I suppose the first threat to Nigeria’s corporate unity was the Western Nigeria crisis of 1962 to 1965. It was caused by the federal government of Tafawa Balewa by meddling in the affairs of Western Region, breaching the Independence Constitution. They supported, encouraged and financed the rebellion in the Action Group of Nigeria against the hierarchy of the Party. This led to the January 1966 coup which also led to the Araba riot. However, it will be incorrect to blame the Hausa/Fulani alone for the Western Nigeria crisis. It was the joint project of Sardauna and Azikiwe which their parties adopted; but it boomeranged and exploded on their faces. The fact that the Northern and Eastern accord of 1959 and 1979 ended in fiasco is a proof that they were only united by their common hatred and envy of the Yoruba. The situation remain more or less the same today; So when the President was upbeat about Nigeria’s unity, I wondered what informed his confidence.
Ochekwu Anyebe: It is doubtful if the totality of the lives lost in the Araba riots of 1966 and the civil war of 1967 to 1970 is up to the ones lost to the hundreds of religiously induced and ethnically sponsored riots in Central Nigeria between 1999 up till today. The so-called empire builders are the same people who are sponsoring the ethnocide against Middle belters. They believe in a monolithic religion and also believe that they are the only pure practitioners of their faith. All others are pretenders and other religions deserve only death, thus their tireless Jihads. You need to know how they kill and burn people and houses in Southern Bauchi at rainy and harvest seasons just to exterminate Christians and Animists. The Kaduna situation was the same, the climax of which was the Sharia war of year 2000 and the Miss World riot of 2001. Gombe is noted for selective murder of uncompromising native Christians. And you know since when they focused their murderous attention on Plateau State which is still bleeding as at now. They have made Nasarawa State into a semi-caliphate and staging post for attacks against Plateau and Benue States with their Chadian and Nigerien mercenary imports. The Tiv are currently groaning from Fulani raids and in all, the federal government looks the other way, probably afraid of the empire builders. So, how can you talk of unity when most of the people are tired of the union of duress?
Ahmed el-Salam: When people talk of the North, I always ask; which North? The notion that every Muslim in the defunct Northern region is a Northerner is false. The fact is that apart from a few renegades, when some people beat their chests proclaiming to be Northerners, we know they are not; they are just positioning themselves for patronage or to be hired. And so, the religious murderers do not represent what other Nigerians know as the North. The Boko Haram has no northern agenda and is not fighting for the North, even though they operate from the North. The fact is that only Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri can lay claim to genuine Northerners. They are also the pioneers or reformers of Islam in Nigeria; in fact the Kanuri’s Borno Empire predates the Fulani-led Hausa Caliphate in the Islamic faith. Until the advent of Boko Haram, Maiduguri was a peaceful cosmopolitan city and home to Kanuris. We are still surprised how the town became home to terrorists as Kanuris are not known for compulsion in religious matters. If proper investigation is conducted, I will be surprised if the sponsors of Boko Haram are found to be Kanuris. We know those who instigate religious problems but who would be the first to call for cease-fire as if they are peace makers. Kanuris don’t have such pretence in their blood. Honestly, I feel that Maiduguri was chosen for Boko Haram just like Jos was chosen as headquarters of Abubakar Gurmi’s extremists group to divert security attention away from the real spinners of religious insecurity threatening Nigeria’s unity.
Convener: Well, most of you have spoken except two and I wonder if the question has been adequately answered. The debate is: will Nigeria break up? The issues canvassed by respondents are quite weighty and capable of doing irreparable harm to the unity of Nigeria if remedial action is not taken. From all angles of opinion, there is no one single cause of disunity as those in the Nigerian union has their own opinion as to whom, what and why the country appears to be disintegrating fast. However, from most accounts, religious differences and forceful co-habitation or subjugation of some ethnic groups by or under certain other groups are the main differences. In other words, many ethnic nationalities want and desire internal autonomy – call it self determination – which they are not getting by the present geo-political structure and unitary system of government. This is what appears lost on past and current governments whose functionaries are the biggest beneficiaries of the perceived imbalances – which makes them unable to see why those outside government wants power devolution or more freedom. The debate continues.
Sam Onimisi
(Following the bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja by the Boko Haram terrorist bandits, President Goodluck Jonathan reassured the nation that his government is on top of the situation and asserted that Nigeria will not break up by the threats of any terror group. The Movement for a New Nigeria (MNN) led by Barrister Tony Nnadi thought otherwise and canvassed their views via a TVC channels programme on Saturday 17 September, 2011. The board of Governors of the Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Movement (NENAM) got interested in the debate and here is their own contributions which are anchored by yours sincerely as the Convener).
Convener: What do you think informed the confidence of President Goodluck Jonathan to assert that Nigeria will remain one nation in spite of the ongoing tenor attacks and threats against the country’s unity?
Mas Damisa: Having studied him over the last four years, I have come to believe that President Jonathan is a mainstream politician from the school of Chief Dappa Biriye. As privileged members of a ruling clique, they lack the ability to think or ponder over the multi-dimensioned challenges of the country, especially as they affect the interest and future of minority groups. It is the likes of late Isaac Adaka Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa who feels for the down trodden and who had the courage to form the vanguard of the struggle to free the peoples of Nigeria, especially of the Niger – Delta from the shackles of neo-colonialism in Nigeria. Those who believe in the status quo cannot effect any radical changes and lacks the necessary vision to steer the ship of state on uncharted but more dynamic course. They are too smug to think of a radical route to emancipation.
Okechukwu Oha: I have no doubt in my mind that Nigeria cannot continue on her sleepy drive on a narrow and dangerous path way and not come to grief in time to come. Having had various threats of disintegration in the past, it is amazing that our leaders are still satisfied with lip service to the question of the unity of Nigeria. The first serious threat was the 1966 ‘Araba’ riot when the North embarked upon mass murder of the Igbo. ‘Araba’ means ‘let it be divided’. This was the reason and cause of the three-year Civil War during which over one million of lives were lost. The rest of Nigeria joined hands to defeat Biafra and thought that they did the country some good unknown to them that they only prolonged our collective suffering. The Boko Haramites of today were the same people who went on riot in 1953 just because Chief Enahoro had the courage to move a motion for Nigeria’s independence. They said they were not ready for freedom and so, we must all remain in bondage with them. Now, they are saying they never liked to be educated and so, are killing those who love education. Even when the Igbo decided again through the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the whole Nigerian security system were sent against the civil rights activists whom they hounded into detention. The message is that the Nigerian State respects only those who show violent strength and I suppose MASSOB should by now get the message.
Yemi Lawson: No nation here on earth is indissoluble and so, no one should be deceiving himself that our unity is iron cast. The Yoruba nation fell as a result of the Yoruba civil war, the aftermath of which was disunity, and this paved way for Jihadists and empire-builders to penetrate into Yoruba land. Today, they rule over us in Ilorin and we are not happy about that. I suppose the first threat to Nigeria’s corporate unity was the Western Nigeria crisis of 1962 to 1965. It was caused by the federal government of Tafawa Balewa by meddling in the affairs of Western Region, breaching the Independence Constitution. They supported, encouraged and financed the rebellion in the Action Group of Nigeria against the hierarchy of the Party. This led to the January 1966 coup which also led to the Araba riot. However, it will be incorrect to blame the Hausa/Fulani alone for the Western Nigeria crisis. It was the joint project of Sardauna and Azikiwe which their parties adopted; but it boomeranged and exploded on their faces. The fact that the Northern and Eastern accord of 1959 and 1979 ended in fiasco is a proof that they were only united by their common hatred and envy of the Yoruba. The situation remain more or less the same today; So when the President was upbeat about Nigeria’s unity, I wondered what informed his confidence.
Ochekwu Anyebe: It is doubtful if the totality of the lives lost in the Araba riots of 1966 and the civil war of 1967 to 1970 is up to the ones lost to the hundreds of religiously induced and ethnically sponsored riots in Central Nigeria between 1999 up till today. The so-called empire builders are the same people who are sponsoring the ethnocide against Middle belters. They believe in a monolithic religion and also believe that they are the only pure practitioners of their faith. All others are pretenders and other religions deserve only death, thus their tireless Jihads. You need to know how they kill and burn people and houses in Southern Bauchi at rainy and harvest seasons just to exterminate Christians and Animists. The Kaduna situation was the same, the climax of which was the Sharia war of year 2000 and the Miss World riot of 2001. Gombe is noted for selective murder of uncompromising native Christians. And you know since when they focused their murderous attention on Plateau State which is still bleeding as at now. They have made Nasarawa State into a semi-caliphate and staging post for attacks against Plateau and Benue States with their Chadian and Nigerien mercenary imports. The Tiv are currently groaning from Fulani raids and in all, the federal government looks the other way, probably afraid of the empire builders. So, how can you talk of unity when most of the people are tired of the union of duress?
Ahmed el-Salam: When people talk of the North, I always ask; which North? The notion that every Muslim in the defunct Northern region is a Northerner is false. The fact is that apart from a few renegades, when some people beat their chests proclaiming to be Northerners, we know they are not; they are just positioning themselves for patronage or to be hired. And so, the religious murderers do not represent what other Nigerians know as the North. The Boko Haram has no northern agenda and is not fighting for the North, even though they operate from the North. The fact is that only Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri can lay claim to genuine Northerners. They are also the pioneers or reformers of Islam in Nigeria; in fact the Kanuri’s Borno Empire predates the Fulani-led Hausa Caliphate in the Islamic faith. Until the advent of Boko Haram, Maiduguri was a peaceful cosmopolitan city and home to Kanuris. We are still surprised how the town became home to terrorists as Kanuris are not known for compulsion in religious matters. If proper investigation is conducted, I will be surprised if the sponsors of Boko Haram are found to be Kanuris. We know those who instigate religious problems but who would be the first to call for cease-fire as if they are peace makers. Kanuris don’t have such pretence in their blood. Honestly, I feel that Maiduguri was chosen for Boko Haram just like Jos was chosen as headquarters of Abubakar Gurmi’s extremists group to divert security attention away from the real spinners of religious insecurity threatening Nigeria’s unity.
Convener: Well, most of you have spoken except two and I wonder if the question has been adequately answered. The debate is: will Nigeria break up? The issues canvassed by respondents are quite weighty and capable of doing irreparable harm to the unity of Nigeria if remedial action is not taken. From all angles of opinion, there is no one single cause of disunity as those in the Nigerian union has their own opinion as to whom, what and why the country appears to be disintegrating fast. However, from most accounts, religious differences and forceful co-habitation or subjugation of some ethnic groups by or under certain other groups are the main differences. In other words, many ethnic nationalities want and desire internal autonomy – call it self determination – which they are not getting by the present geo-political structure and unitary system of government. This is what appears lost on past and current governments whose functionaries are the biggest beneficiaries of the perceived imbalances – which makes them unable to see why those outside government wants power devolution or more freedom. The debate continues.
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