By Chiedu Uche Okoye
Our political independence was not won on a silver platter as our freedom fighters, such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Osita Agwuna, Nwafor Orizu, Anthony Enahoro, and others fought tirelessly and ceaselessly for the political emancipation of Nigeria from the clutches of British colonialism. And when Nigeria became a politically independent country, they dreamed and envisaged that Nigeria would become a great country and the pride of every black person on earth given its immense human and material resources, equable weather conditions, and large arable land.
However, six years down the line, after we had achieved flag independence, Nigeria descended into a gratuitous and fratricidal civil war, instead of achieving rapid economic and technological development, as envisaged by the country’s freedom fighters. I feel that the Nigeria -Biafra civil war broke out because our political leaders in the First Republic lacked patriotism, leadership qualities, and the mental as well as intellectual capacity to tackle the country’s vexatious problems of corruption, inter-ethnic rivalry, and religious crises.
Were either Nnamdi Azikiwe or Chief Obafemi Awolowo elected Nigeria’s Prime Minister in 1960, the political trajectory of Nigeria would have been different. Both of them were philosopher kings, who possessed profound and vast political and economic ideologies. And, it takes visionary leaders to transform a country, positively.
But the foxy departing British colonial overlords had sinister plans for Nigeria. They clandestinely helped Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, an amenable and malleable northern politician, who would pander to their whims and caprices, and take dictations from them, to power.
But, surprisingly, under the leadership of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, the political intrigues in the Western region and the bloody events in 1966 swirled and spiralled out of control and eventuated into the Nigeria -Biafra civil war. The war caused the depredation of our economy and the killing of millions of Igbo people.
At the end of the war in 1970, Yakubu Gowon coined the slogan called “no victor, no vanquished” , which was designed ostensibly to promote the unity and oneness of Nigeria. It gained currency and resonance among the diverse people(s ) of Nigeria. And, the National Youth Service Corps Programme (NYSC) was established in 1973 to further entrench peace and unity in Nigeria. Under the NYSC scheme, students who graduated from universities when they’re below the age of 30 years are obligated to do the programme in states outside their ethnic origins so that their minds will be disabused of ethnic bias and prejudice, and provincial sentiments.
But have those measures,which are being executed to guarantee us peace and unity in our country, yielded the expected results? The answer is an emphatic no. Between 1970, when the Nigerian civil war ended, and 2021, ethno-religous conflicts, political crises, terrorism, and other sundry divisive crimes have marked and marred Nigeria. Nigeria, it should be noted, has always been on the boil, with intermittent periods of peace reigning in our country.
Nobody has forgotten the Maitatsine religious uprising, and the intra-religious quarrels, which have erupted between the Sunni sect and the Shia group. The North , which is a hotbed of religious violence, has now become a river of blood, what with Boko Haram insurgents and bandits killing people there. And the peripatetic Fulani cattle herders’ campaign of bloodletting, destruction of farmlands, and expansionist moves have made them become the fourth deadliest terror group in the world.
Since 1999, when the Fourth Republic dawned here, successive civilian governments have tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to eradicate sectarian violence, insurgency, and terrorism in Nigeria. But the Buhari-led government has been receiving scathing criticisms for the endless and prevailing insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria because of the Federal Government’s use of double standards in tackling the matters of Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, Fulani cattle herders’ menace, and the clamour for statehood by Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemi (aka Sunday Igboho).
While agitators for statehood are clamped down, as though they reserved no right to clamour for separate countries for their ethnic groups, the Boko Haram insurgents and Fulani cattle herders are being mollycoddled.Yet, the northern bandits, Boko Haram insurgents, and Fulani cattle herders are decimating the populations of the Middle Belt area and the North, respectively.
But IPOB, whose leader , Nnamdi Kanu, was unjustly and unlawfully repatriated to Nigeria for trial, was proscribed, although it is a non-violent secessionist group. And Sunday Igboho’s alleged crimes for which he is being hounded pale in comparison to the murderous deeds and other atrocities, which are being committed by the Fulani cattle herders, Boko Haram insurgents, and northern bandits or terrorists.
Instead of taking a dispassionate look at the causes of revolt and secessionist moves in Nigeria with a view to proferring lasting solutions to them, President Buhari, who is a Fulani irredentist, is busy enthroning and solidifying Fulani political hegemony here. Is he not aware that the destruction of farmlands and the killing of farmers in the Southwest of Nigeria is at the root of Sunday Igboho’s agitation for the creation of a Yoruba or Oduduwa state?
More so, he has continued to turn a deaf ear to the deafening cries of marginalization by the Igbo people. His ill-treatment of Igbo people is obvious to the generality of Nigerians. His lopsided appointment of people other than people of Igbo descent into key and critical federal organizations proves that he has a great dislike for the people of the Southeast. Had he struck a balance between executing infrastructural projects in the Southeast and appointing people of Igbo descent into diverse federal organizations in Nigeria, the cries of marginalization and agitation for statehood by IPOB and other Igbo people would have decreased, considerably. However, President Buhari, whose character flaw of inflexibility is legendary, is implacably opposed to changing tactics in his dealings and relationship with the people of the Southeast geopolitical zone.
Consequently, there is discontentment as well as anger among the people(s) of Nigeria. Now, it is obvious to us that the rumble in our political polity will not cease until the APC-led government changes its evil and reprehensible ways. It should do away with oppressing people, who possess dissenting political opinions, mismanaging the economy, stalling the restructuring of the country , and provision of a new Constitution for the Nigerian people.
But if the status quo ante remains, and the APC-led government continues to waffle on critical state matters that need urgent governmental attention, then, fierce protests like gale of whirlwind will sweep across the country, and cause severe damage to our economy as well as weakening the political stability of Nigeria.
Nigeria, as at now, stands at an equidistance between experiencing national rebirth and imploding given the happenings in the country. But in order that Nigeria should experience a national rebirth, President Buhari should appease the malcontents in the land by offering them good political leadership, shoring up our economic fortunes, working for the restructuring of Nigeria, and handling the Sunday Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu’s matters urgently, justly, and fairly.
• Okoye writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State