Is ‘Shege ka fasa’ a competition against Operation Amotekun? -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

It is not news that ever since the 1946 constitution which officially delineated colonial Nigeria into 3 regions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern regions; the squabble for dominance and supremacy as was inflamed almost immediately by the violent Kano crisis; has never waned. Despite it was the idea of the British Empire to organize the very different ethnic groups into one country; it was not an idea that foreclosed a peaceful break-up after independence, if worse came to worst.

In fact, the Britons envisaged a break-up (peaceful or violent) a year or two after October 1^st 1960. They saw the hatred and the competitive fervor that political leaders of that era had for the idea of coming together and, although they were aware that these leaders would’ve preferred a separate constitution for the northern region and a very different one for the southern region; yet they left these things in the hands the politicians to do as they saw fit.

It turns out that more than 70 years after – with no successful attempt to break-up – the hatred and the animosity for one another still existed even to the amazement of the powers that organized us in this manner. I am sure that if faced with this kind of a situation; the Britons would’ve done either of 2 things. They would’ve worked out a template for coexisting peacefully or disband to go their separate ways. Perhaps, no ethnic group understood this problem and its solution more than the Asians did.

In 1960, the British Empire gave independence to Malaysia. Back then, Malaysia and Singapore were one country but by the year of 1965, it was clear to this country that coexisting together in a peaceful manner and to shared prosperity was practically impossible primarily because the Malaysian tribes’ concept of independence was one of reigning supremely over and above the other ethnic groups and, therefore not an ideology shared with the other ethnic groups.

So, the political leader of the people of Singapore; then a parliamentarian requested to be excised from the federation and, the request was granted. Singapore – a tiny country with a population of 1.887 million people, like the southeast of Nigeria – faced the fate of the fish that suddenly found itself on land and gasping for breath. But did they die? Of course, they did not. Interestingly, Malaysia had consented to the excising of Singapore because she strongly believed that Singapore had nowhere to run to.

The case of our federation is hard to be likened to any human or animal example. For no people known from the ancient times to the present; have lived like cat and dog for this long. Even the animals of the zoo could not have survived living together if they did not find the common ground that they shared together. For close to 60 years, the northerners have always feared the idea of implementing any political framework that can encourage the practice of true federalism.

On the other hand, political leaders from the south have feared the idea of one ethnic group gaining dominance over the rest of the tribes that comprised Nigeria; and so have remained relentless in their demand for an arrangement that will not only encourage true federalism but will guarantee equity, justice and a healthy security for all. The ideas of true federalism will surely make peaceful coexistence possible; on the one hand and, those of maintaining the status quo ante will surely lead to a break-up.

Threatened by insecurity created by the political stalemate between the federation’s north and south region and exploited by aliens, Nigeria remained embroiled in the competition for supremacy. Nigeria was slowly been overtaken by aliens most of whom were encouraged to come in illegally so as to boost the North’s chances of electoral victory in 2015. Incidentally but quite unfortunately, with the creation of Amotekun, the north seems to be interested in both shouting down at the southwest and floating their own version like it was miffed by the action of the southwest!

The North’s true motive remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the entire drama has continued to mesmerize the Europeans who cannot correctly place where the federation was headed. It is not out-of-place to say that as soon as these aliens stepped into the country and noticed the kind of opportunities that abound, they wasted no time to create for themselves alone a lucrative business that will soon enable them to gain access to the corridors of political power.

They chose for themselves the following businesses: cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping and the one-chance syndicate, and looting by terrorism. And within the shortest time, they transform into landowners and rich merchants who traded on goods brought in from the middle-east. Later, they begin to contest and win elections into political offices to run the true inhabitants of the federation. Meanwhile, the true inhabitants are still lost in the ancient fights for who will dominate and who will serve!

Is Shege ka fasa a competition against Operation Amotekun? I am bothered by this question because when I recalled how the northern region applauded the Boko Haram sect in its infancy and correlate it with how they now struggled to get rid of them from the region; it gets me thinking if our brains were truly normal as in; with any grain of wisdom in it. Armed bandits are on the prowl but the government of the day cared less.

These aliens will never stop terrorizing the federation until they find themselves in control of the government. I am saying this to the hearing of those who are happy at the turn of events especially those who are thinking of the adverse effect of this trend on Nigerians from the south. It is better we joined hands together now or we peacefully parted ways for what I see coming will be disastrous for all; regardless of the region you came from.

Presently, following the launch of Amotekun by the southwest region, it appears the federation is yet to understand that politicizing it was not needed especially any attempt to reduce it to a mere competitive exercise! If the quarrel is whether a regional security outfit was allowed in the federation’s constitution or not the launch of Shege ka fasa by the north seemed to suggest otherwise. In fact, there is no doubt that a competition has ensued instead the measured steps to deal with the aliens trying to run us out. 

We should be bothered therefore and in fact be worried that if we continued to spend our time politicizing issues of collective interest, soon aliens will assume leadership positions and lord it over us. This has happened before in our history. That was in pre-colonial times; a period that the Europeans met a great number of African societies competing for territory and dominance. Africa was into this when the Arabs met them and introduced the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Africa remained in that thought level when the Europeans came in, conquered a great number of territories and introduced a political system that enable them to rip off our resources in both human and material capital. Since they left, Africa has pretty much gone back to the same level of thinking. We saw what happened to Nigerians in South Africa! What we hated in one another is something that many right thinking humans cannot really understand.

Shege ka fasa. Why does this look like a competition against Amotekun instead of an outfit to deal the alien enemies? Is the north actually miffed with Operation Amotekun? If so why and on what grounds? What is the federal government’s approach to insecurity beyond retaining and feeding incompetent service chiefs? To restructure for a peaceful coexistence is a great idea but where this is not possible; an unwarranted and needless competition or show of regional capability is a thankless response.          

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh is an advocate for attitudinal change. 08062577718.