I am a nationalist. I believe in the rise and power of the nation state. I believe in the sovereignty of the will of the people. I believe in the right of independence and self-determination for all and sundry. This is especially so for the numerous ethnic nationalities that make up the space called Nigeria.
I believe in the right of the Igbo to have Biafra and the right of the Yoruba to have Oduduwa if that is their wish.
I believe that that right ought to be extended to the Ijaws and indeed to every other ethnic nationality in the country if that is what they want.
I believe that to compel a man or a people, by the force of arms and with the raw power of the state, to stay in a house or a space that they do not wish to stay is evil.
Such a state of affairs and situation is an eloquent testimony, graphic example and accurate illustration of subjugation and bondage.
It is a testimony of the most barbaric form of wickedness and a total denial of the most basic civil liberties, fundamental human rights and expression of free will of the victims.
I believe that there are many countries in the belly of Nigeria but sadly they have all been choked, suffocated, swallowed up and killed at birth.
I believe that Chief Obafemi Awolowo was right when he said that Nigeria was “not a nation but a mere geographical expression”.
I believe that Sir Ahmadu Bello was right when he described the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates as a “great mistake”.
I believe that he was also right when he told the ever-accommodating and over-compensating Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe that we needed to “understand our differences” rather than to just “forget them”.
Again I believe that Awolowo was right when he said “there are no ‘Nigerians’ in the sense as there are English, Welsh or French. The word ‘Nigerian’ is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not”.
I believe that Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa accurately reflected the mind of his core northern people when he said,
“the Southern people who are swamping into this region daily in such large numbers are really intruders. We don’t want them and they are not welcome here in the North. Since 1914, the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country but the people are different in every way, including religion, custom, language and aspirations. We in the north take it that Nigerian unity is only a British intention for the country they created. IT IS NOT FOR US.”
I believe that Lord Frederick Lugard, the architect of the 1914 amalgamation, was right when he said “the North and the South are like oil and water. They will never mix”.
Again I believe that Awolowo was right when he said “Nigeria is only a geographical expression to which life was given by the diabolical amalgamation of 1914. That amalgamation will EVER remain the most painful injury a British government inflicted on Southern Nigeria”.
I believe that the hero of Biafra, Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (the one and only Eze Igbo Gburugburu), was right when he said “it is better we move slightly apart and survive than move together and perish in our collision”.
I believe that Sir Ahmadu Bello spoke the minds of his northern people when he said,
“the new nation called Nigeria should be an estate from our great grandfather, Othman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities in the North as willing tools and the south as conquered territories and never allow them to have control of their future.”
I believe that General Yakubu Gowon was right when he said,
“suffice it to say that putting all considerations to the test, political, economic as well as social, the basis of unity is not there.”
I believe that Dr. Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe was right when he said,
“if this embryo republic of ours must disintegrate, then in the name of God, let the operation be a short and painless one.”
Finally I believe that Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was right when he said,
“Nigeria is a stooge of Europe. Her independence was and is a lie. Nigeria committed many crimes against her nationals which in the end made complete nonsense of her claim to unity. Nigeria persecuted and slaughtered her minorities; Nigerian justice was a farce; her elections, her census, her politics – her everything – was corrupt. Qualification, merit and experience were discounted in public service. In one area of Nigeria, for instance, they preferred to turn a nurse who had worked for five years into a doctor rather than employ a qualified doctor from another part of Nigeria; barely literate clerks were made Permanent Secretaries; a university Vice-Chancellor was sacked because he belonged to the wrong tribe.”
These words are as truthful, accurate and appropriate today as they were when Ojukwu spoke them many years ago.
If there is still anyone left that believes that all is well in our forced union I urge them to consider the words of Chief John Nwodo who is a former Minister of Information and the newly-elected President-General of Ohaneze, the leading Igbo political and socio-cultural group which comprises of all the elders and traditional rulers of Ndi Igbo. He said,
“Our young men and women can no longer tolerate a second class status in their own country. They can no longer forgive the President for arguing before he came into office that Niger Delta militants were meekly treated and tolerated by President Yar’Adua while Boko Haram was harshly treated by President Jonathan when his law enforcement agents literally opened fire and maimed and killed unarmed MASSOB and IPOB members. They see how returnee Boko Haram members are absolved and rehabilitated while leaders of MASSOB and IPOB are incarcerated or mercilessly murdered. In their rage, they are becoming uncontrollable as they pass a vote of no confidence on us, their parents, describing us as cowards and compromised”.
Could anyone have put it any better than this? Has Nwodo not hit the nail on the head? Has he not spoken the bitter truth? Is this not an aberrant and unacceptable state of affairs?
Has our so-called country not been turned into the theater of the absurd where anything can happen in the last two years? Did some of us not warn that this would happen if a Fulani supremacist and Muslim fundamentalist with delusions of grandeur like Buhari was elected President? Are the Nigerian people not reaping what they sowed in 2015?
Have the southerners and Middle Belters in Nigeria not all been turned into slaves today? Have their leaders and elders not all been turned into quislings and cowards who shiver under their beds at night and who dare not speak truth to power?
Christians are slaughtered, nobody talks. Southern youths are butchered, nobody talks. Shiite Muslims are massacred, nobody talks. Christian refugees are bombed at IDP camps, nobody cares. Fulani militants murder hundreds in cold blood on a weekly basis all over the country and nobody is arrested or apprehended.
Was this not Awolowo and Ojukwu’s greatest fear? Are we not living that nightmare today?
Whether they wish to admit it openly or not EVERY southerner and Middle Belter in this country feels like a second class citizen today. (TO BE CONTINUED).
Femi Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006. He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from@realFFK.
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