There is presently no ruling governor in the old and the new eastern (now south south region) that was professionally in politics prior to 1999. Their so called political heavyweights were lackeys of either northern or western political servile. Without prejudice; that is not to say they are better or worse in politics than any other region albeit they have become underdogs overtime. The effects of the civil conflict of 1967-1970 had a devastating effect in virtually all the facets of their existence within the Nigerian state system. They were not only systematically excluded from politics and other such associated ambition they were overtly denigrated into it without apology. They actually lived the farce of the, “no victor no vanquished”. It was all a travesty. They suffered as the vanquished they were told they were not while the rest of the country lived as the victor or in some cases with allies of the victor. As a matter of fact it becomes a political point at a time to slay the Ibos especially in the north at any slight of political provocation to prove a political bravado of the north over other tribes and regions and their readiness to subsist in power subterfuge. Such action still subsists. Outside his own volition the Ibos were left at the mercy of self-building outside the state system. Prior to 1999 the Ibos were practically not part of the Nigerian state system. It was even Obasanjo that brought them back to participation to the anger and suspicion of other regions. The Ibos could only account for 4% ministerial appointment from 1970 to 1999. The proposed national conference is a good step in the right direction. The issues that are going to be discussed there have corroded over the decades even preceding independence; prompting Wole Soyinka to write the, “Dance in the forest” and more recently by former United States ambassador to Nigeria to recently write, “Dance on the brinks”. It’s even a wonder we are not back at each neck. The trepidation and panic it is creating are for those who have been thriving on the wrong side of federalism. It is not a diversion as some has tagged it unless we want to part in a way that is very sanguinary…God forbid. It is the truth regardless of what they label it. People who mooted the idea with the president alongside it are people who are part of this generation. People who have been deprived so much of what time might not necessarily repay. This generation of thinkers are actually fulfillers of the dreams of our founders. Our forebears were very thoughtful about the fears and successes of this country. Our country has become a tale of two cities. The protagonists that handled the affairs left matters unattended to for too long. It was not the Ibos that created the Al-majirins and the profound poverty in the north; it was the northern political players both in military and civilian government that did that for the thirty two years they were in power along with their acolytes. In 1983,Bamanga Tukur was the Governor of the defunct Gongola state (now Adamawa & Taraba state ) & 30yrs later, he is today the chairman of the ruling party, the PDP; Dr. Bello Halliru was commissioner in the old Sokoto state (now Sokoto, Kebbi & Zamfara) & 33yrs after he is today Minister of Defence; Major General David Mark (rtd ) was the military governor of Niger state in 1984 & 28yrs later he is today the senate president; Gov.Murtala Nyako was the governor of Niger state in 1976 & 36yrs later he is today the Governor of Adamawa State. Gov. David Jonah Jang was the governor of Benue state in 1985 & 27yrs after he is today the Governor of Plateau State. In 1985, IBB was the president of Nigeria and Buhari was the former Head of State from 1983 to 1985.....27yrs later IBB & Buhari are still contesting for presidency. Senator Tinubu was a second republic senator that was 33yrs ago. Political senility is even making me more afraid than anything else and that’s exactly what is also suffusing the opposing camps. The “project unity” is a failure because we have refused to address the common challenges staring us in our faces and have destroyed every effort we have made so far to live in an illusory peace. The reasons why the Ibos went to war is not far from the reasons leading to disturbance of peace from every region in the country. The conflict emanating from the far north is primarily of the fact that a southerner is in power and a secular state is in Abuja rather than Islamic state; and most of the victims in the north are perceived adherents of Jonah boy’s government or policies. So will somebody tell me why we should not sit down and talk or is it better we continue to co-exist in a state that is not pacific? I think it will be wiser to proceed on the path of pursuit of peace than to keep meandering in murky ethnic game that can cost over six million lives within six weeks from the start of a new conflict. It took Rwanda a week to achieve 1/6th of that statistics and given the level of deep seated animosity that exist presently in Nigeria and the amount of circulation of light arms in the country I can guarantee you we can achieve that casualty ratio within the shortest possible time.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 17:04:39 +0000
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