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 Daily
Independent Online.
* Wednesday, June 30, 2004.
Nigeria: A divided nation
By Sukuji Bakoji
Nigeria was born as a child
of circumstance. Lord Frederick Lugard had actually set out to kill two
birds with a stone.
Initially he had rejected the 1913 proposals by Lt. General C.L.
Temple, the then acting Governor of Nigeria, for a seven divisional structure as a response to the
clarion call that the Northern and Southern protectorates be bound up as
a country. Rather Lugard
over- ruled that two divisions (North and South) would be adequate for
that matter, asserting, “with this we have such a make-up that supports
the classic cleavages between the North and South”.
Therefore, the 1914 amalgamation of the
various nationalities by Lord Lugard, which he christened Nigeria, is
often described by political pundits as an arbitrary exercise. In fact, if the so-called
amalgamation of 1914 was aimed at a political fusion of the North and
South, it did not have the objective of building a united nation, per
se. Or simply put: the
British did not envisage by the remotest of imagination that a strong and
united nation would eventually emerge from the “geo-polity.” Just
imagine! In his auto-biography entitled My Life the legendary
premier of the defunct Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardauna of
Sokoto described the amalgamation as, “the mistake of 1914”. The late
sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, on the other hand, in his book, Path to
Nigerian Freedom, posited that “Nigeria is not a nation, it is a mere
geographical expression --- the word “Nigeria” is merely a distinctive
appellation to distinguish those who belong from those who do not.” Likewise, in his own view, the
late prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, while contributing to a
debate as honourable of the legislative council in 1947, said: :Since the
amalgamation of the Southern and Northern provinces in 1914, Nigeria has
existed as one country only on paper. It is still far from being united.” Also, the former
Biafran leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, at a meeting of the
National Reconciliation Committee led by Awolowo at State House, Enugu,
on May 16, 1967 pondered on the question of Nigerian unity by asking,
“can there by unity in Nigeria?
Has there been unity in Nigeria? To these two questions my answer is “No.”
Indeed, the question of national unity
borders on the nature and the relationship between the nationalities in
the polity with particular reference to the relationship at the level of
beliefs, languages, traditions, religions and territories. This is why ninety years after
the amalgamation and about forty-two years after independence, the
question of national unity still occupies the front burner of national
discourse.
It is, therefore, against this backdrop
that Nigerians are being called upon to speak their minds or ventilate
their feelings on the conditions for co-existing in one corporate entity
called Nigeria. The opinions
of the proponents of the Sovereign National Conference are well
articulated. But as the
table is set for the great national debate, tempers continue to rise and
the various ethnic groups get more and more implacable and agitated. In fact, the machinery is already
in motion to actualize the dreaded sovereign national conference as a
nascent umbrella organization for political parties, civil society
organizations, pro-democracy and pressure groups, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), dubbed Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD) has
started receiving memoranda on modus operandi of convening the much
orchestrated national confab.
Ironically, there are still an influential
body of opinion especially in the North which has staunchly opposed to
the confab. Resistance by
the northern conservative and reactionary elements to the whole idea of
convening a sovereign national conference has been fierce. To them the confab is an idea
that has been championed mainly by southern politicians as a mechanism to
break the perceived monopoly of the center by the North or to even break
the jinx of the “monolithic North” in the polity. At various for a the leadership
of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has put up spirited case for the
North as an indispensable member of the Nigerian family and will continue
to remain committed to its indivisibility as a political entity.
The chairman of the northern umbrella
organization, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Sunday Awoniyi has
stated that the clamour to outdo one another in some parts of the country
to portray the northern attempt at Nigerian unity as a frightful ogre to
be attacked and destroyed “is most unfortunate indeed.” According to him,
the gang up against the North through the call for national confab “is a
well planned effort to give a dog a bad name to hang it and so build up a
coalition of ordinarily none too friendly groups to fight the “Northern
ogre”. The ACF leadership further stated that investigations have
revealed that the areas where the agitation for sovereign national
conference in most pronounced are the Yoruba-speaking parts of the
country and some of the Southern minority areas. That the agitation for
convocation of sovereign national conference is also meant to create a
diversion from leadership and misplace priority in the execution of
public policies and projects.
Moreover, that the historic jaw-jaw may even turn to war-war,
since it will be a war-like talking session.
Besides, others believe that the national
confab will be “wasteful and dangerous” because there will be no
consensus at the cacophous assembly. In fact, opponents of the confab converged on an
opinion that it may lead to an uncontrollable situation in which
reactionary forces will cash-in and tear the country apart.
However, if the unfolding scenario in the
country is anything to go by, the call for Sovereign National Conference
has become inevitable and imperative. Because every aspect of the country’s life and existence
has been riddled with crises: her political health is impaired; her
economy is near comatose; the inequality between the haves and the
have-nots has permanently kept the nation among the poorest countries;
Nigerian public life is suffering from ideological fissures; the human
debilitation is just as bad, the affront to dignity just as tragic; the
glorious flood tide that swept us all up at independence has ebbed,
leaving a desolate foreshore littering with evil-smelling detritus and
decay.
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