Secession: Igboho & MNK’s Agitations Are Vital Signs Of An Incompatible & Abusive Coexistence -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

It has been argued in some quarters that Nigeria’s problem or problems was an offshoot of a poorly packaged and disjointedly managed presentation by the Nigerian team that represented Nigeria during the 1954 constitution draft conference where the wise counsel of Chief Awolowo’s that a secession clause be added to the ongoing constitutional draft should any tribe feel unwilling to go on with the Nigerian project was sharply rejected by the delegates from the respective regions of the east and the north.

Obafemi Awolowo

This school of thought believed that the non-inclusion of the secession clause which was generously suggested by Chief Awo made modern-day agitations from the likes of Ralph Uwazurike, Nnamdi Kanu, Asari Dokubo, Abubakar Shekau, Fulani Herdsmen, #EndSars and more recently Sunday Adeyemo Igboho possible. They say it is the reason for the needless spending of taxpayer’s monies in the wedging of a war against public discontent that found expression in agitations of diverse kinds and with various motives.

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu

And that’s not all. These myriad of problems that also included distraction from the business of governance as well as the reduction of the 61 year old Nigerian republic to a terror-stricken, dangerously polarized and grossly traumatized Balkan Penisula are in their conviction incidences that wouldn’t have had to happen if and if only the secession clause was inserted into the draft of the 1954 constitution. What would’ve come at no cost at all now comes with a huge cost in human lives, military spending, drained economy and a very weary citizenry who are tired of the whole situation.

The citizens for instance, no longer knew who to trust between the federal government and those terrorizing the federation as it does seems that there was a secret romance between the FG and the enemies of state. Many now questioned the value of sovereignty and indivisibility in the face of a debased standard that had no regard for the sacredness of human lives. They now think it was worthless after all for the federal government to continue to hold on to indivisibility of the country when citizens were dying out of tiredness of a rotten system that has never and could never ameliorate the problem.

The second school of thought believes strongly that although the idea of a secession clause was wise but it wasn’t really necessary as at the time. Hence, it was technically not the origin of the problem. The problem; they stressed had stemmed from how Sir Ahmadu Bello had misinterpreted the essence of having the reins of the national government given to the northern people’s congress (NPC). They propounded that the interview granted by the Premier of northern Nigeria just 12 days after independence where he told his brethren that Nigeria was their inheritance was the problem’s origin.

A quote from the interview as was published by the long defunct Parrot Magazine on the 12th October, 1960 read as follows: “The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate from our great-grandfather Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities of the north as willing tools, and the south as conquered territories and never allow them to rule over us or to have control of their future.” Now, those who knew this ‘Hero past’ personally have attested to his capability of making unguarded utterances.

Raph Uwazurike

Don’t forget that this pernicious statement was not rendered in the English language but in Fulfulde. I recalled a story that was told about Chief Awolowo. It happened in the second republic that the sage was going from state to state for his presidential campaign and folks of the north had transmitted a story to the effect that the Yoruba chief was blind and without sight which was why he used eye-glasses. Now, the PR people who managed the chief’s media profile decided that the only way to dispel the rumor was that the chief would alight about a kilometer from his intended destination and then trek unaided to the venue while saluting Nigerians standing around just to prove he was not and had never been blind.

So, for Sir Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello to have said the above and, for contemporary Nigeria to grope under the vicious siege of a Fulani sponsored acts of terrorism that is in every way different from the Maitasine episode (of the early 80’s) and the Boko Haram ravage (in the northeast) and more recently the Hisbah raid of business concerns (in Kano state) provided real witness that the arguments of this second school of thought satisfied to a great extent the many unanswered questions that made current happenings in today’s Nigeria under the General Buhari government appear like it was mysterious.

Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna

A few of such unanswered questions are as follows: (1) Why is the federal government hell-bent on disregarding the federal character act by having only Muslims from the north appointed to man the security and the economic apparatuses of this federation? (2) Why was RUGA (and its disguised alternatives like Grazing Reserve) the only option that appealed to Myetti Allah and the Fulani nation in Nigeria? (3) Why was Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho considered a threat and jail-worthy by this federal government while the Fulani and alien bandits are pampered and even invited into government houses?

Sir Ahmadu’s quote provided the answers. We must never forget that the informed (whoever he/she was) wielded enormous powers over the uninformed (wherever they are) and, had the discretionary powers to interpret or twist an information for selfish serve. This is why whoever held information held power. Now, it becomes easy to understand why the duo are captured and put behind bars just so the government can stop information from getting to their constituencies or probably twist whatever should get to these constituencies.

Having established this much let me quickly present my thoughts and then conclude. It is without doubt any and everywhere in the world today that once the relationship that binds coexistence becomes abusive and possibly a threat to life; such coexistence was not worth holding onto anymore. I say this because a federation of diverse ethnic nationalities like Nigeria is akin to a marriage between a man and a woman from different backgrounds. Coexistence is the word that describes the two different instances.

Sunday Igboho & Nnamdi Kanu’s Agitations actually began as a protest to the intentional sidelining of bona fide Nigerians by this federal government from gaining positions based on merit. In other words, the reality that Nigerians from a certain region that probably suffers an embargo against which they must not react was publicly shown to be true after all. It later metamorphosed into an outright agitation for a separate republic after it was found out that alien from neighboring countries secretly infiltrated to occupy forest reserves in the southern states of the southeast and southwest.

Abubakar Shekau, leader of the terrorist group, Boko Haram

During this period, the federal government showed great incompetence in their style of reacting to the situation. For they did not see citizen’s discontent as the problem but saw a refusal to submit to national authority as the problem and, for that reason; had gone ahead to manhandle the citizens. But the fact remains that secession agitations like these are vital signs of an incompatible and an abusive coexistence which in itself are good grounds for demanding for secession and, which ideas on how best to solve the problem of discontent rather than those of submission should’ve been the priority.

The attention of the global community has been activated by these two activists and the world is watching us keenly now. It is no longer a case of treason for those who have refused to update their understanding but a case of providing a convincing proof against the vital signs that these agitations exemplified or in another word; showing cause why the government thinks it was not a case of citizen’s discontent. If we went back to the first and the second schools of thought, it becomes clear that saving the country from the break up that is imminent depended on having someone (probably the British government) to re-interpret to the Fulani’s that Nigeria isn’t theirs and so halt their campaign for territories otherwise the next viable option to saving the federation would be to let those calling for secession to go.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh; political counselor & advocate for attitudinal change write from Abuja. 08062577718.