Nwabueze: North-South divide, obstacle to nation (3) BY BEN NWABUEZE, 23 AUGUST 2013 WHEN, of all persons, Paul Unongo, known in the past for his fierce championship of the interests of the ethnic groups in the Middle Belt against the dominance of the ethnic groups in the True North, begins to speak in this vein, when he begins to see the entire artificial creation called Northern Nigeria, with no common sociological, cultural, linguistic, religious or locational (i.e. geographical) attributes or identity, as having a common “geopolitical interest” to be asserted and advanced against the South, then, Nigeria is in serious trouble, more serious than is generally realized. He was, apparently, driven to espouse his new view of the Middle Belt as having common “geopolitical interest” with the True North by a feeling of having been betrayed. As he said, “when Jonathan came to Benue (for presidential campaign in 2011)… I spoke on behalf of the people of Benue”, and persuaded them to vote for Jonathan. Now the “tribal jingoists” in the Niger Delta, as he calls them, have high-jacked and appropriated him as their own alone and exclusively, branding as “enemies”, anyone making critical comments about the performance of his administration. This, he lamented sorrowfully, is not the “all-inclusive Nigeria” I had lived and fought for. The demand for power shift to the North is a matter calling for mature and dispassionate dialogue, which should take into account all relevant factors and considerations, including the demands of harmonious co-existence of the diverse ethnic groups in the country as well as the fact that no Executive President of Nigeria has ever come from the Middle Belt States of Benue, Taraba, Kogi and Kwara, and the South East States. If, after such mature and dispassionate dialogue on the issue, it is agreed that power should shift to the North, then, the interest of the Middle Belt must be recognized and protected as having priority over that of the True North. Happily, there is no lack of people of the right caliber from there. The demand for power shift to the True North demonstrates most palpably the seriousness of the obstacle to the building of one Nigerian nation, which is created by the idea of “Northern Nigeria” or one North and the attitude of mind generated by it. Until the idea and the mental attitude that comes with it are exorcised, the building of one Nigerian nation may be further stalled. A far more grave threat to the unity of the country than the demand for power shift to the North, is the current Boko Haram insurgency which, as is generally believed, is sponsored by some political, traditional and religious leaders from the North in pursuance of an agenda aimed at promoting northern domination and the supremacy of the Moslem religion in the affairs of Nigeria. A stark revelation of this was given in an interview with the Sunday Vanguard newspaper by Chief Tobias Michael Idika, President of Kano State Chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo who is also President-General of the leaders of the ethnic communities resident in Kano. Blaming the northern politicians as well as the northern traditional and religious leaders for the Boko Haram crisis, he said (see Sunday Vanguard newspaper of August 4, 2013): “Every right-thinking Nigerian who witnesses the killing of innocent citizens must have reservations. I sense a high level of compromise, connivance and blackmail. Some northern politicians want these killings to continue, using it as a bargain for power. What pains me so much is that they are hiding under the cloak of religion to perpetrate this evil. The culprits are politicians, religious leaders and traditional rulers from the North. As far as I am concerned, Boko Haram is a creation of bitter politics. Let me say this without mincing words – if they continue to allow this kind of carnage in Sabon Gari, the resultant consequence will be deadly.” The danger posed to the unity of Nigeria by the Boko Haram insurgency, sponsored, as testified by Chief Idika and other credible sources, by Northern political, traditional and religious leaders, is more grave than we seem prepared to acknowledge to ourselves. The unwillingness to do so is nothing but self-deceit, which is itself a source of danger. The idea of “Northern Nigeria” as one entity poses yet another danger to the unity of Nigeria, in that the solidarity and unity of the North is aimed, not only at putting political power in the hands of people from the True North, but also at putting control of the strategic function of security in their hands, thereby making the security of the Nigerian state and its people a northern affair. This insidious and pernicious northern design is attested by Bishop Matthew Kukah in his book, Witness to Justice: An Insider’s Account of Nigeria’s Truth Commission. As the Bishop tells us, the design is given maxim implementation under the regime of General Sanni Abacha. The General had, in furtherance of that design, appointed Major Hamza Al-Mustapha as the Chief Security Officer to the Head of State; Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, as the National Security Adviser; Brigadier Gen. Sabo as the Director of Military Intelligence; AVM Idi Musa as Chief of Defence Intelligence; Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie as the Inspector-General of Police; and Alhaji Zakari Biu as the head of the newly created Counter Terrorism Agency, which was assigned “the responsibility of keeping watch over enemies within who might be collaborating with enemies without to destabilize the nation”. As all these appointees were northerners, northern control of the security of the Nigerian state and its people was complete, and has remained largely undismantled up till now (August 2013). The dream of one Nigeria thus confronts a serious threat, given the incompatibility between it and a security apparatus controlled by just one segment of the country – the northern segment. Those behind the design cannot have meant well for, or cared much about, the unity of the country. Before July 2012, the South as a single entity had no organisations corresponding to those existing in the North – no one pan-southern organisation to countervail those in the North. There are of course organisations, like The Southern Minorities Movement, which by name embrace the entire territory of the South but not all its peoples, their concern being limited only to certain groups of people, such as the minority ethnic groups. The formation of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA) in July 2012 is thus a significant development. The SNPA held its third General Conference in Lagos on May 20, 2013, attended by a South-East delegation led by former Vice-President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a South-West delegation led by Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi, while the South-South delegation was led by Chief Edwin Clark. (The earlier General Conferences were held in Uyo and Enugu.) The creation of a pan-southern organisation to match those in the North is perhaps not a bad thing in itself, but what I find worrying is the conflict-laden polarisation of the country into two antagonistic camps of North versus South, which is implied in the statements of SNPA’s objectives, as declared in speeches delivered at the recent third General Conference in Lagos. Whilst in his speech, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, as leader of the South-East delegation, simply spoke of “the need for the South to come together and speak with one voice.” Bishop Gbonigi, speaking as leader of the South-West delegation, went further to say: “Now that we have a counterpart in the South to the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), namely the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, future meetings with the ACF should be with SNPA only and we should put an end to the practice of ACF holding separate meetings with our various zones. We strongly recommend that this Conference should adopt this position.” But it was Chief Edwin Clark, as leader of the South-South delegation that gave forceful expression to the spectre of antagonistic relations between the North and the South when he said: “We are convinced that if our political leaders and forebears had invested some of their energies, exceptional brilliance and wits in fostering a united Southern Nigeria, the challenges of fragmentation and distrust which have been very clearly exploited by the North to supplant us in virtually all aspects of our political lives would have been avoided. “The unfortunate result was the lack of unity, cohesion and solidarity among their people. Because we could not speak with one voice in matters of common interest, the South became easily manipulated and preyed upon by our detractors whose tactics has always been to divide and rule. Despite their political differences, the North is always united in matters of common interest. This unarguably has remained our albatross.” The creation of SNPA with the unity of the South as its objective raises the question whether the unity of the North against the South, and the unity of the South against the North, translate to the unity of Nigeria or to a drag on the latter. The question is discomforting, and is causing me considerable disquiet. Borrowing Sir Frederick Maitland’s famous aphorism about the continuing dominating influence of the forms of action in English law notwithstanding their demise by abolition, we may say that we have buried Northern and Southern Nigeria as governmental entities, but they still continue to rule us, to dominate our thinking and attitude, from their graves. This is a great tragedy indeed. The planned centenary celebration of the 1914 amalgamation of the Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria may have the unfortunate effect of helping to keep alive the idea of Northern and Southern Nigeria. This is an additional reason why the plan should not be proceeded with. What should engage our concern and concerted effort is how to bridge the chasm resulting from the North-South Divide. The matter calls for the creation of a national front for the activist pursuit of the National Transformation Agenda. Concluded Nwabueze is professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Source: The Guardian, 23rd August 2013.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:03:31 +0000
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