By Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, I write movingly today
because those who have the platforms to reach a mass audience should rise to
rescue Nigeria from those hell-bent on unleashing stupendous terror and horror on our dearly beloved country.
It is necessary for me
to repeat some of my life history for people to understand the pain and anguish
I feel about those toying with our very existence as a nation. I was not born
with a silver spoon. I have willingly laboured more for myself and our country
than I ever want to receive.
I have suffered enough pains, frustrations and
denigration like, if not more than, the man next door. You may never know
because we are yet to hold a sovereign national conference of the Sufferers
Association of Nigeria. Unless you are told in very clear terms, you would
never know, suspect or imagine what is buried within the underbelly of a human
being.
Growing
up was not so simple or easy for me. The primary school I attended was so local
and rural that it even reflected in its name, Local Authority Primary School,
Ifewara Road, Ile-Ife. From there, I travelled to Inisa Grammar, Inisa for my secondary education.
This was a journey from Ile-Ife through Ife suburbs like Ipetumodu, Gbongan,
Sekona, to Ede, Osogbo, Ikirun and finally Inisa. I have narrated the route
just to show the arduous journey and how many bridges I had to cross as a young
boy of eleven years old to go to school. The experience was so harrowing as we
had to trek some distance to fetch water from Odo Otin river and had to wake up by 5.00am daily. I regularly escaped from school,
running back to my parents. Being the only child of my mum for my dad, they
were quite alarmed fearing something terrible might happen to me. I was brought
back to Ile-Ife and I landed at Oluorogbo High School. I spent only one year in
this school before moving St. John’s Grammar School, Ilode. I never had the
privilege of attending any psychedelic schools of those days, as you can see.
As
if my background was not chaotic enough, I suddenly lost my wonderful father on
June 14, 1973. I was barely 13 and life went from bad to worse. Just visualise
being left with a poor and illiterate woman who merely eked a living as a petty
trader. My only saving grace was the wisdom she imparted on me from her native
education and natural wisdom. My spoken English was a catastrophic disaster. I
improved a bit in the written language after reading substantial literature
under one of the best teachers ever, Mrs H. Sutton. I sat my first WAEC
Examination in 1976, succeeded only in bagging a poor Grade 3. I flunked
Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry with straight F9. I repeated the exams in
1977 but disaster struck again as in that evil year exam papers leaked like
water inside basket. Though I had no access to what was nicknamed ORIJO (as in
Original) at the time, my result was one of the many withheld. It was so bad,
my mum felt like my ordeal was spiritual.
I
sat the exams a third time in 1978 and it was third time lucky. I also passed
the inaugural JAMB exam and became a pioneer JAMBITE at the University of Ife.
Such was my incredible trajectory in search of the golden fleece of Bachelor of Arts.
It was at Unife (as the University was then called) that I met and became bosom
friends with Prince Adedamola Aderemi, who completed my English transformation
by teaching me how to pronounce words properly and improve my diction.
1978
witnessed the Ali-Must-Go demonstrations in Nigerian universities. I was
naturally disposed to join the A LUTA CONTINUA struggle though I was yet to
resume school as an undergraduate. I was working in the University Library at
the time and practically fancied myself as a full-fledged student because of my
many family and friends who were already studying there. Since
then, I have lost count of how many dangerous and deadly demonstrations and riots I have
witnessed or participated in. We fought against all manner of oppressive
tendencies. Many have been jailed or killed in the process. The sad news is
that nothing has changed positively. We’ve never had a respite of one year during which we could say life
was indeed very good.
In
deep frustration and anger, many of our citizens have blamed
everyone else for the woes of Nigeria and reached the illogical conclusion that
the solution is breaking up the country called Nigeria. The first costly step
was THE BIAFRA WAR. Valuable properties were wantonly destroyed and lives
senselessly wasted whilst sadly, these souls ran into millions. At the end of the
day, our brave Biafrans surrendered and their participation in the country called Nigeria had to be
re-negotiated. But not much ever changed. The marginalisation of Nigerians by
fellow Nigerians continued unabated and the frustrations of the different
ethnic groups became reinvigorated. Once again, the agitation for the breakup
of Nigeria became strident and cacophonous. The exponents of this war-mongering
and disunification unfortunately cannot see that lumping large groups of
diverse people together as one tribe is not necessarily accurate. Let me give a
few examples.
When
you say the Yoruba of South West Nigeria, who are you referring to? Would you
consider them a single entity united by race, culture, tradition, language or
religion? You would be dead wrong. In Lagos State alone, you have different
ethnic groups and they hardly see eye to eye. If it were possible, the peoples of Epe,
Ikorodu, Awori, Badagry would prefer their separate States. It is a similar
story in Ogun State where the Egba and Egbado are not the same despite the
similarity in their names. Ditto Ijebu and Remo and Yewa. Please, move to Oyo
State which is even more critical because of too many big townships and tribes.
I have not even bothered to talk about religion. There are different kinds of
Christians, Pentecostals and Traditionalists. Between them there are different
sects and beliefs. The same goes for the Muslims who can be divided into
Sunni, Shia etc. The story of Nigeria is replete with similar configurations
everywhere. It is therefore jejune and over-naïve to assume that all
the cases of oppression and suppression in Nigeria will evaporate and vamoose
once we dissolve into fragments.
Let
me say categorically that there is no way any part of Nigeria can break away or
sack others without anarchy. Firstly, to break up a country, there must be a
referendum of sorts because the leaders of this gambit must seek the mandate of
the people to know if they want to take such a monumental step or not. No one
in Yorubaland for example can say with autocratic confidence that he’s been
mandated to declare a Yoruba or Oduduwa Republic. Such a person would languish
indefinitely in fantasyland. I also believe there is no such thing as a
monolithic North. There are so many ethnic groups representing the geographical
spread called Northern Region of Nigeria. The three regions of Northern Nigeria
cannot be collapsed into one by fiat without resulting in fiasco at this time
and age. The same can be said of the South South where I partly come from
paternally. If the dream to break up ever comes to fruition, there would be
cries of marginalisation, sooner rather than later. Even under the government
of President Goodluck Jonathan, we heard those who grumbled about Ijaw
domination. The Igbos clamouring for Biafra would have been the most pitiable
and laughable had it not been tragic. They draw up a map which includes the
South South who have not been consulted as to whether they would want to join
with people they have a natural distrust of. Indeed, their agitation and
inclusion of the South South States demonstrates the tomfoolery of their
actions because it is the same subjugation they complain about that they would
seek to impose on the South South.
Lest
we forget, we must also examine the fallacy of thinking that having our home
man or woman in power would turn our part of the country into Eldorado. It is
never so. We only need to examine the various hometowns, not even States, of
our former leaders to see that this is only but a mirage. For the first time, a
leader from Niger Delta attained Presidential power, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
(2010-15), did the South South transform into a modern-day wonder? Why are we
fooling around in the name of secession as if that is the talismanic wand to
crumbling our monumental challenges?
Let
me warn without any fear of contradiction that Nigeria cannot afford to go
through a second civil war just to massage the ego of any over-ambitious person
or persons. Those calling for war should first put and push their children
forward. It would be ungodly to use poor kids of the proletariat as cannon
fodder. Anyone who has ever seen the effect of wars on human beings, animals
and vegetation would never call for war, again.
I
led a delegation to Sierra Leone in 2001 and the trauma of what I saw did not
leave me for a long time. Through the protection of God and the United Nations
Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), my friends and I were able to navigate our
ways through the dangerous forests of Mange and Port Loco. We saw humans in
various stages of dilapidation and` destruction. I personally met and spoke
with a few rebel leaders encouraging them to be merciful by laying down their
arms. The degree of human suffering was despicable and disheartening. We
visited the Nigerian peacekeepers who described their harrowing experience in
the bush. We prayed never to encounter such atrocity and brutality in our
country Nigeria.
I
repeated a similar peace mission to Liberia where our soldiers controlled ten
out of the 15 counties in the war-torn country. I visited our peacekeepers and
we exchanged very useful information about the effect of war in a country
already impoverished by poverty and ravaged by diseases. God forbid, with our
humongous population, the whole of West Africa will collapse and sink into the
abyss if we ever allow the selfish gladiators to have their way.
Lastly,
those calling for war now forget that the youths of this country do not share
their negative vibes about Nigeria. They see this country as a
prospective world power. They dream of a nation that is technologically advanced
and self-reliant where people of diverse ethnic groups and religions come
together to contribute to nation building. They ignore tribe and religion
in their relationships. They do not care where their leader comes from as
long as he or she has the acumen, capacity, ability and competence to lead.
This is why Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is receiving accolades everywhere
now. We, the ageing, decrepit generation, had better look back and not destroy
the future of our kids because of our own failed past, bloated egos and
self-aggrandisement.
The
solution to our problems does not lie in splintering, or in any structural
re-configuration. It lies in capable, competent and incorruptible leadership.
Our much-maligned Constitution, despite its many failings, has already provided
a viable structure. It is the implementation of this lofty Constitution that is
our bane.
I
leave you with a powerful note of caution from a piece making the rounds on
social media, which was forwarded to me by a Sierra Leonean friend:
Timely
Warning To Nigerians!
OMAR
BANGURA (not sure of identity) from Sierra Leone has this to tell Nigerians…
“I
don’t think you guys know what you are playing with. You can call each other
names and laugh about it now but when you end up inciting hate …. and a real
civil war starts in your country you will regret what you are doing now. Your
religious and political leaders are trying to divide you between religious
lines and you are helping them do that rather than standing up and say we are
all Nigerians never mind our tribe, region or religion. That’s the only stand
that will save your blessed nation. The foreign powers pushing the government
to take certain decisions will abandon you when you start killing one another
and reject you from running to their countries so be careful. Our 11-year war
in Sierra Leone was not even based on religious or tribal difference and see
what we did to our country. The worst conflicts are those based on tribal and
religious differences. See Central Africa, Bosnia, South Sudan and Rwanda. To
have a better knowledge of this, please watch the documentary/movie called
“Hotel Rwanda” or “Sometime in April”. My heart bleeds when I read what you
guys are saying because I know what this will lead to. You will be the losers all
of you whether Christian, Muslim, Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa. Stand as one and save
your nation together because you have only one Nigeria that has the potential
to lead Africa.”
Credit:
Dele Momodu,
Thisday
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