WHY NIGERIA SHOULD NOT DISENTEGRATE “I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the Nigerian people.” Ojo NIGERIA, our dear country is on the brink of collapse. The enemy, the Boko Haram insurgents, have infiltrated a part of her, killing indiscriminately and in cold blood innocent citizens in parts of the North East. The group’s activities have sent cold jitters down our spine. Except for Mr. Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American of Ebola virus fame who suddenly and temporarily took the shine off the Boko Haram insurgents, their threat via an SMS to invade Akwa Ibom State in the South South would have taken the centre stage. The insurgents and their sponsors appear to have lost their reasons. Their mindless killings defy logic. They claimed on arrival to abhor Western education, yet their instruments of operation and oppression come through this form of education. The magnitude of havoc and pain being inflicted on Nigeria and Nigerians call to question their motive. It also creates feeling of uncertainty as to their true nationality. If they are Nigerians, in the real sense, then they are acting in ignorance, oblivious of where the Nigerian nation started, from where it is today and where it is headed. One thing is unmistakably clear and that is that no true son or daughter of Nigeria would in the wordings of the nation’s National Anthem want, “The labour of our heroes past .... be in vain.” A true son or daughter of Nigeria would also work assiduously to “defend her unity,” encapsuled in our National Pledge and not work towards her dinsintegration. Nigeria is a nation blessed with an array of ethnic groups, diverse and rich cultures and languages and must not be allowed to disintegrate. Before the advent of the British in 1861 the various ethnic groups had enjoyed communal democracies and interacted with one another. In 1914, both the Southern and Northern Protectorates were fused into one formidable entity known as Nigeria by a British colonial army officer, Captain Lugard (Later, Lord Lugard). The British colonial rule which spanned a hundred years between 1861 and 1960 ended as a result of opposition through popular resistance, including peasant revolts, anti-tax revolts by committed men and women. There were students’ protest-demonstrations as well as workers’ strikes which all combined to hasten Nigeria’s political independence on October 1, 1960 . The history of Nigeria’s political independence will not be complete without a mention of Nigerian Youth Movement, (partly social and partly political). The Zikist movement, the NCNC, the Action Group, (a direct product of Yoruba cultural organisation known as Egbe Omo Oduduwa) founded in 1947 by Chief Obafemi Awolowo while still a student in the United Kingdom; the Northern Element Progressive Union (NEPU), and the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), among others. It is pertinent to mention names of the then leaders who championed the struggle. They included Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Aminu Kano, Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa, Mbonu Ojike, Anthony Enahoro, Michael Imoudu, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Ibrahim Imam, Raji Abdallah, Margaret Ekpo and Gambo Sawaba, among others. They, indeed freed Nigeria from the clutches of those who held Nigerians captive on their own native land. In such a devastating situation are we today at the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents and their sponsors. In the wake of the 2001 disaster popularly called 911 in America in which four large passenger jets were hijacked and piloted into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, killing over 3,000 persons, President George W. Bush in a speech before a joint session of Congress of the US on 20 September, 2001 said, “Some will remember an image of a fire or story or rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone for ever. “I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people.” So also will some concerned citizens from across the length and breadth of Nigeria fired with the spirit of nationalism not forget the wound of bombing to our country Nigeria and those who inflict it. They, the concerned citizens have come together like their heroes of the time past to rescue Nigeria from the brink of collapse with their Docu-Drama entitled, “The Wind of Change” and a Unity Trek. Just like President George W. Bush of America said, “our compatriots will neither yield, nor rest nor relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security” for the Nigerian people. Somalia today is enmeshed in self inflicted tribal warfare which does not appear to end soon. Ukraine was a part of now disintegrated Union of Soviet Socialists’ Republic, USSR of which Russia, Ukraine, Belarus were rallying points with fourteen other Soviet republics that came together in 1922. The Union disintegrated December 31, 1991. Today, we can feel the pain that Ukraine is going through. What we are saying here is that Nigeria’s strength lies in her unity. That explains why her military might is respected and is called upon to serve in peace keeping missions across the world. And Nigeria with her diverse cultural endowment could attract tourists in their hundreds of thousands. Nigeria should not be allowed to go the way of USSR that has gone into oblivion since its disintegration. It is an indisputable truth that no one can preside over what does not exist. Nigeria’s political gladiators fond of inflamatory uttrances should be careful. They should shelve their inordinate ambition and let Nigeria be so they can preside in their turn in God’s appointed time. No king comes on the throne without the knowledge of God. I share the belief of the concerned citizens that the great need of our country today is the revival of its unity, the kind we exhibit in times of World football tournaments. Ojo is of the Admurt Group. https://facebook/groups/paff.789/ Paffcomm paffcomm
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 07:21:19 +0000
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