BATTLE LINES Let’s try a bit of social engineering. Because, right now, you CANNOT cut the umbilical cord. No. It doesn’t matter what the actual script (of your life) has been, the answer to some of our questions are, largely, rhetorical. ‘Where are you from?’ ‘What is your State?’ Sometimes, you toy with stories in your head and if, maybe, these questions are asked over bottles of beer on a careless evening you wouldn’t mind telling them; like how you were born here, and grew up there; things like that. But the empty box for ‘State of Orgin’ has no space for nuances. And, because it is connected to federal government quotas and geo-political slots, you have learned never to leave it blank. So, let’s try something new. Well, it’s not really new. After all, Aganga is representing Lagos in the Federal Executive Council and (whispering now) some people swear he’s not REALLY from there. At least, not in the way the Federal Character Commission Act defines the word ‘from’. Because, you see, they are all definitions, these social identities we go to war over. And, yes, I know you will swear that you were Igbo from birth, only because (thank God) your mother did not push out in the middle of the night and drop your off at the doorsteps of an orphanage in Karu. I can bet my next month’s salary that whoever opened the door and found you would not have been able to tell your tribe from listening to you cry, and if they had subsequently gone on to name you ‘Aminu’ that would have been how you introduced yourself for the rest of your life, even if you were actually a blood descendant of the first Eze Nri. So, why don’t we open these social categories to new entrants? If you live somewhere, and have lived there for a while, understand the language on the streets, know which roads not to turn down after sundown - there’s not much you can do about the prejudices people hold, secretly, in their hearts - but, at least, THE LAW shouldn’t stop you from calling it ‘home’. To me, that’s what a Federal Government (or whatever you want to call the apex government in a Federalism) is for – not colonizing local resources and running primary health centers in people’s villages. Because every socio-political identity is a well-told story, told so many times and so convincingly the second (or third, or fourth) generation of hearers ordains it as Truth. Yes. Our Commander-in-Chief should also be our Storyteller-in-Chief. And wield federal might for something far more symbolic than completing the East-West Road, or citing a federal university in the place he or (the day WILL come) she comes ‘from’. That’s why I don’t get it when the murder of National Youth Corp members is allowed to go unpunished. It’s not that any life is more precious than the other but, in every building, there are walls that simply divide one room from another, and there are walls that carry the roof. You cannot walk into a Federal institution; attack the idea of integration – the idea of one society where people from all walks of life can meet at the crossroads of enlightened minds – and walk away scot free. No. That should be what Federal might is for. Not orchestrating the impeachment of rebel Governors. But defending the CITIZENSHIP of every Nigerian; that package of rights that should transcend whatever kind of politics States and their indigenes want to play with tribe and religion. So, for Heaven’s sakes, let them have their crude oil. What we actually need to be taking away is their power to charge one level of school fees for indigenes and another for the others. It’s not until people start raising foreign flags and sacking police stations that we should know Nigeria is under attack. And, please, don’t worry about your culture sliding into oblivion, just because a Babatunde can claim to be ‘from’ Anambra, or a Tersoo can claim to be ‘from’ Kano. Languages live because people use them. What good is it to the survival of Igbo culture if you – direct descendant of Amadioha – live in Los Angeles, fluent in American and not a word of Igbo? And then the little boy on ground in Awka or Umuahia, breaking the language down every day, keeping it alive, has to hang his head in shame because his father is not ‘from here’? Yes, I will admit it to you, I am a bit confused at the moment about which way forward. But this much is clear – walking backwards is not one of them.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 18:00:13 +0000
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