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| Fani-Kayode |
Today a great protest is taking place in the Catallan region of
Spain. According to the polls, 52 per cent of the people from that
region wish to break off from Spain and to establish a new European
sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of Scotland are
having their own referendum to determine whether or not they will stay
in the United Kingdom and, again, from the polls, it is very clear that
the majority of Scots wish to have their own new sovereign state and
that the Scottish Nationalist Party enjoys massive support. Nobody in
either Spain or the United Kingdom has insulted those people or labelled
them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive tribalists’’ for wanting to
break off from the greater whole and establish their own country.
This
is because everyone respects the right of the various ethnic groups and
nationalities within their wider nation to exercise their right of
self-determination which is an integral and fundamental aspect of
international law. Exercising that right does not turn them into
villains and does not make them any less patriotic than their
compatriots who do not share their views. It just means that they have a
different perspective and that they believe, as many believed before
Malaysia and Singapore broke up, that the interests of their various
peoples are better served when and if they go their separate ways.
They
opted to be friendly neighbours rather than to be compelled to remain
within the same territory against their collective will. As we in
Nigeria approach the 100-year anniversary of our 1914 Lugardian
amalglamation and, as the 2015 elections are fast approaching with both
the northern region and the south-south zone desperate to take or to
hold on to power at any cost respectively, we need to begin to ask
ourselves some basic and fundamental questions about our future. For
example, is our interest better served by remaining as one nation or is
it time for those nationalities that wish to leave the federation in a
peaceful and orderly way, as a result of a legitimate and honest
referendum, be alllowed to go?
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
If the
breaking up of larger countries into smaller and more viable ones is
good enough for India (which broke into three), the Sudan (which broke
into two), Czekhoslovakia (which broke into two), Yugoslavia (which
broke into 5), the Soviet Union (which broke into 15) and numerous other
countries over the years, why is it not good enough for us? Again, why
should those that believe that Nigeria ought to break up be subjected to
so much suspicion, ridicule, contempt and insults from those that do
not share their views?
Some of the questions that need to be
answered are as follows- firstly, is our union working? Secondly, is our
marriage a good one and is it a happy one as well? Are we satisfied
with what has essentially become a country that has been turned into
nothing more than (with apologies to Chief Bode George) ‘’Turn by Turn
Nigeria?’’ where each ethnic group simply looks forward to enjoying its
time to control the federation and all the nation’s resources from an
all powerful centre? Are we not meant to be far more than this? Is this
what the founding fathers of our nation envisaged?
More than
anything else the recent igbo/yoruba debate over the issue of the status
of Lagos state and the deportation of a handful of igbo destitute back
to the east has proved to me that we as a people are very different from
one another and that our interests may be better served if we are no
longer bound together as one. I dare to voice this opinion even though
many Yoruba share it but will not say so publiclly.
Is it not time
for us to begin to accept the bitter truth that our marriage is
uncomfortable and unhappy and that it may not have been made in heaven
or ordained by God? Is it not clear that each region or each nationality
ought to be able to develop at its own pace? Is it not time for us to
have a confederation of nationalities in Nigeria and to restructure the
country drastically to give maximum autonomy to the various regions and
nationalities or indeed is it not time to just break up and go our
separate ways?
DIFFERENCES Many may disagree but one thing that I
believe that we can at least agree on is that perhaps it is time for us
to be courageous enough to begin to talk about these issues openly and
debate them. We must not sweep our differences under the carpet and
ignore them as if they do not exist but instead we must find the courage
and muster the resolve to acknowledge them and understand them. As far
as I am concerned, this is the challenge of our time and these are the
questions that need to be answered.
Whatever happens in 2015 and
whoever wins, whether it be a northerner or Goodluck Jonathan of the
south-south, I see blood on the horizon and I see disaster approaching.
Stark promises from notable players such as ‘’there will be bloodshed if
Goodluck is not re-elected’’ do not help and are not encouraging.
There
are equally strident and bellicose murmurings from the other side as
well and some have threatened that if there is a repeat performance of
the massive rigging that the North witnessed in the presidential
election of 2011 anywhere in the country in 2015, ’’Nigeria will
burn’’ whilst another key player said that ‘’both the dog and the baboon
shall be soaked in blood’’.
2015 AS KEG OF GUN POWDER
These
words must be taken very seriously indeed and they reflect the thinking
and mindset of millions of people from both sides of the political and
regional divide. Worste still, whether we like to admit it or not,
religion has now become a major factor in our politics with Christians
being told in their churches that it is their solemn duty to support a
Christian presidential candidate and Muslims being told in their mosques
that it is theirs to support a Muslim. We are sitting on a keg of
gunpowder and, in my view, 2015 really will be the year of make or break
for Nigeria. Sadly, in my humble opinion, it is far closer to ‘’break’’
than it is to ’’make’’.
If we wish to avoid the road to Kigali,
we must change our mindset and make the necessary concessions that we
need to make. We must begin to think outside of the box and be far more
innovative and adventurous. For example, why is it a must in the minds
of some that the PDP must field a Christian as it’s
presidential candidate and why are some in the APC of the view that the
party must field a northern Muslim as its own?
These hard and fast
fixed positions are most unhelpful and the right thing and proper
thing to do is to completely discard them and attempt to find a
presidential candidate that is a Nigerian before being a northerner,
a southerner, a Christian or a Muslim. And thankfully there are quite a
few of such people around in the new generation if only the system will
be far-sighted and enlightened enough to allow them to emerge and
run. Failing that we must open up the space now and consider the
unpleasant assertion that the premium that a united Nigeria attracts may
not be worth paying simply because we are getting nothing but failure
after failure and sorrow after sorrow as our consistent return.
I
do not have all the answers and neither do I claim that I do. Indeed I
may well be wrong which is why I would be interested in hearing the
views of others and particularly those from the younger generation who
may see things very differently. Whichever way it goes and regardless of
what we all think, let us not allow this debate to be driven by the
uninformed or ignorance, pettiness, hate and acrimony. Let us not insult
one another or act as if any tribe or nationality are a collection
of angels whilst others are nothing but demons. Let us join issues and
exchange ideas in a civil, restrained and decent manner without hurling
insults at one another or allowing our emotions to becloud our thinking.
At
the end of the day, we all want the same thing- namely, to put in place
a system that is in the best interest of the Nigerian people and to
empower a new leadership that will allow them to achieve their full
potentials? That is the objective and that alone. Over to you.
*Fani Kayode was a Minister of Aviation
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