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Resolving
the national questions through sovereign national conference
By
Kunle Olajide
Let
me begin by congratulating you on the successful inauguration of All
Yoruba Youth Conference lecture series. I cannot immediately fathom what
could qualify me for the invitation to deliver this Third Lecture but I
feel perhaps my role as the errand boy of those very credible Yoruba
elders in the YCE is your reason for inviting me. However, I am very
delighted to have the privilege of addressing this distinguished
gathering. I must mention from the onset that your letter of invitation
was a very thoughtful document, which I have carefully filed for future
reference.
Your
objective of working towards the unity of our youths and our race is
highly commendable. That exactly is the raison detre for founding the YCE.
Your other objective of setting the appropriate agenda for sound
emancipation of our race very much tickles my fancy. After reading the
letter, I said to myself- this is a serious and focused organization and I
should feel very proud associating with the body. Hence I am very glad to
be here and I will strive to tell it just as it is. This country will not
make progress unless and until the National Question is resolved.
How
can it be resolved? What is the National Question? These are the two
questions I will attempt to answer in this paper. I will start with the
second question - What is the National Question?
That
question presupposes and rightly too that we do not have a nation yet.
What we have today is a country of many nations.
No
sincere efforts have yet been made by any leader to weld us into a true
nation. The nearest to a sincere effort was during the Murtala
Mohammed/Obasanjo regime, unfortunately, that regime was short-lived. What
we have continued to have are leaders governing this country as if we are
already a nation, which of course we are not. This is why no matter the
strenuous efforts a leader makes, if the National Question is not resolved
to the satisfaction of all, the efforts will be in vain. I am aware that
the present administration headed by Chief Obasanjo is working day and
night passionately to make Nigeria a giant of Africa and reposition it
properly in the comity of nations, but I dare say the efforts will be in
vain until he addresses the National Question. I stand to be corrected
that never in the history of this country has ethnic agitation been so
pronounced as it is now. There is virtually no section of this country,
which has no grudge with Nigeria as it is today. The number of deaths
arising from ethnic insurgencies or ethnic clashes in the last five years
is almost as much as we had during the civil war. The issue is that
military dictatorship as a result of its command nature severely distorted
the structure of our country and because of its repressive nature
brutalized the psyche of our various peoples. Nigerians had a lot of pent
up anger against the country. They had thought the advent of democratic
rule would assuage their pains, address vigorously the national question
and restore true federalism to the country. The people had expected the
government to address their grievances and make life worth living for
them.
Unfortunately,
the present regime has concentrated more on reform of the economy without
attempting to reform the minds, attitudes and beliefs of the people who
will at the end of the day allow the reform to work. Let me say here that
as soon as these reforms and new rules are being churned out from the Aso
Rock or the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG) right
inside the Villa there, some officials and top civil servants, political
leaders are already devising ways and means of subverting the rules or
maximizing what opportunities they have for themselves and their people.
The reason is that in my opinion only Mr. President is convinced about the
Nigerian Nation, most of his aides have their doubts. Of course, I have
mine. Recently, two top officials of the administration, my good and
highly cerebrate friends - Ojo Maduekwe and Jerry Gana publicly admitted
that His Excellency has no disciples. No matter how passionate about this
country Chief Obasanjo is, if there is no equity and justice in this
country, there can be no peace and progress. The present structure of this
federation and the political system we are operating cannot guarantee
justice and equity. This is why the struggle for 2007 has been very fierce
between the zones because it is believed that whoever gets there should
appropriate the resources of this country to his ethnic base.
Unfortunately, His Excellency Chief Obasanjo has been trying
single-handedly to work against this tide trying tirelessly to be fair to
all sections without giving undue advantage to the South West, and this is
why he is having serious problems with us his Yoruba people. It thus
appear as if it is Chief Obasanjo alone who believes in Nigeria as it is
today.
Why
is the National Question an issue? This is because most Nigerians do not
believe in the country as it is currently structured and governed. The
various ethnic groups that make up the country were conquered people
forced into a country by the British. Their consent was never sought. We
as Nigerians have never had the opportunity of discussing and reaching
consensus on the terms and nature of our union. All our constitutional
conferences; colonial and post independence were held under the watchful
eyes of impostors - British or military dictatorship. The grievances of
the various sections of the country can be seen as the vexed issues of the
national question. These grievances will remain major obstacles to the
evolution of true nation no matter how hard we try.
The
Ijaw are angry because they believe the exploration and exploitation of
their God-given resources have led to the despoliation of their
environment and pauperized them whilst the few Nigerian oil magnates who
own oil concessions don't even know the oil fields. The Ijaws are angry
because they have no water to drink and no roads, their traditional
occupation of fishing has been destroyed.
The
Itshekiri are bitter for similar reasons with the Ijaw and more with the
Nigerian structure and arrangement which has made them tenants on their
own lands.
The
Igbo are furious because they believe they are still being punished for
the civil war, they often times complain that it is a deliberate policy of
the government to marginalize them. They claim their roads are the worst
in the country and that Federal presence is minimal in their zone. When
confronted with the fact that their sons and daughters are in key
positions in government they furiously retort that such officers are
Obasanjo's appointees and not their representatives.
The
Yoruba, myself inclusive, are very angry because we have sacrificed so
much for this county and gotten so little out of it. We believe that we
contribute at least 65 per cent of VAT and we less than 20 per cent of it
back. We complain that the enormous revenue from the Apapa Ports is carted
away by the Federal Government whilst the heavy trucks conveying the
various cargoes damage our roads and constitute a nuisance to our
environment.
Consequently,
the Lagos State Government will now bear the cost of maintaining their
highways. We believe that Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria but
it has not been given a special status in revenue allocation. Hence we
want to control our various ports.
The
South West consumes almost 60 per cent of petroleum products in the
country but no refinery is sited in the zone despite the oil rich belt of
Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states.
Our
bitumen deposit has been lying waste for over 20 years without
exploitation just because the bitumen is located in Yorubaland. Of course
we are angry.
We
believe some privileged Nigerians conspired to kill the railway system
because of their road haulage business.
The
Junkun and the Tiv are at war because of what they perceive as faulty
boundaries created for them and the indigene/settler issue. The Tarok are
fighting the Fulani in Plateau State for similar reasons. The Islamic
fundamentalists in Kano and Kaduna go on rampage at the slightest
provocation because the "Kafari" from the South are dominating their
commerce and polluting their religion. They want Sharia state but the
Nigerian System says it is unconstitutional.
The
Kwarans and majority of Kogi people say they are Yoruba and that to have
put them in the North Central Zone is a plot to perpetually dominate them.
The
Taliban in the North East are insisting that the entire Borno State must
be Islamicised. Time will not permit me to enumerate all areas of
dissatisfaction in the country.
The
aforementioned grievances are just a tip of the iceberg. There is
widespread dissatisfaction against the country. Since there has been no
formal forum to ventilate these grievances, every section now has its own
ethnic militia to use violence as a means of articulating its displeasure.
Even the Hausas in Lagos claim they own the Alausa and Idi-Araba whilst
the Igbo are not tired of telling us Lagos is no man's land.
These
various problems, to my mind, deserve in fact much more attention than the
economy. These various peoples are the ones to implement the economic
reforms but they are fundamentally dissatisfied with the set-up called
Nigeria, so they are in no mood to listen to any preachment, which does
not address their grievances.
We
were recently told that some state governments sponsor and finance these
militia groups. Where then lies our hope when constituted authorities also
aid subversion?
The
next important question is - Can a piecemeal approach solve the myriads of
problems confronting this country? The answer is No. It is in the above
context that I will examine the recent invitation of Dokubo Asari to Aso
Rock parley with His Excellency. Since any attempt at dialoguing is
preferred to the force of arms, the parley could be seen as a step in the
right direction to a national discourse. However, I would still have
preferred a more discreet approach by the Federal Government to that
meeting. I would have expected top officials of the Federal Government ,
for instance the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG) and Chief of
Staff to join Dr. Odili and Alamieyeseigha to discuss and negotiate
privately with Dokubo in Port Harcourt. Our President should under no
situation be part of a red carpet treatment for somebody who has taken up
arms against the State.
That
meeting obviously created a credibility gap for the government in tackling
insurgencies in the country. The Egbesa boys, MASSOB, OPC, Talibans might
be encouraged to be more daring in confronting State institutions with a
view to attracting state attention to themselves and getting invitation to
Aso Rock.
In
fact, the only justification for the discreet private meeting is because
of the sensitive nature of the oil sector to the nation's economy and the
potential of internationalising the crisis because of oil.
May
God forbid a situation where Gani Adam, Nwazurike, Asari, the Egbesu and
Talibans will begin to meet and chart common ways to pursue their
struggle. Then the entire nation would be held captive by ethnic and
religious militias.
To be
continued tomorrow
Dr. Olajide is the Managing
Director of Group Medical Practitioners, Ibadan, and Secretary of the
Yoruba Council of Elders
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