Matters arising from ‘Kaduna Declaration’
We are in that season again, aren’t we, when political tension is the major topic of discussion, day and night, in Nigeria. On the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has been increasing the volume of its campaign for secession. In response, the Northern Youth Coalition (NYC) issued a notice to all Igbo to leave the north by October 1, 2017. In the Niger Delta, there has been some peace — peace of the graveyard — after a lot of bombing that crippled the nation’s economy last year. Boko Haram, lest we forget, has neither retreated nor surrendered in its armed campaign for the Islamisation of Nigeria.
The Yoruba, meanwhile, are watching from the sidelines, perhaps waiting for what would happen to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in the coming months. Rumour is already doing the round in the north that President Muhammadu Buhari was poisoned in order for power to return to the south-west. This rumour is quite lethal given the street following Buhari enjoys up north and the likely backlash for the Yoruba, and the rest of Nigeria, if he does not recover. Coup rumours are rife: the military allegedly wants to keep power in the north if anything happens to Buhari. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande have warned about an upcoming “resistance”.
To tell the truth, I have never been this worried about peace and stability in Nigeria since the political crisis of 1993 and the reign of terror by Gen. Sani Abacha. I consider the brewing crises (not just crisis) as potentially the worst in our history — because of the different dimensions. I believe Biafra failed because it was 75% of the country against 25%. The June 12 crisis was also relatively contained for the same reason. But if we have a resurgence in Niger Delta militancy, on top of Biafra and Boko Haram, and a renewed “NADECO” from the south-west, we will be biting too much. Maybe I am getting too nervous, but it doesn’t look too pretty to me.
What then must we do to be saved? I wish I had the answers. It seems Nigerians are perpetually in love with separatism. We keep experiencing this in different shapes and sizes, from the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), the Arewa People’s Congress (APC), the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in early to mid-2000s. We survived them all: OPC rebranded itself after endless battles with the police and needless bloodshed; MASSOB specialised in demonstrations and soon faded out; MEND bombed the pipelines and became a global brand; and APC never really made it.
The June 7 Kaduna Declaration by Arewa youth groups is yet another step towards the precipice. I remember when the now anonymous APC was formed in December 1999 by retired Captain Sagir Muhammed, a former operative of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), its declared aim was “to preserve the indivisibility of the country”. The group said it would begin “full self-defence training for northern residents” in reaction to attacks on Hausa people by OPC in the south-west. OPC was eventually caged (President Olusegun Obasanjo famously issued a shoot-on-sight order to security agencies). APC subsequently petered out.
Just as APC was the counterforce to OPC, should we take NYC as the antidote to IPOB? Should we assume that the threat to expel Igbo from 19 northern states is designed to put IPOB on the back foot? We all know Igbo are all over the country. (There is this joke that anywhere you go and you don’t see an Igbo, please run away because it is not fit for human habitation.) By threatening millions of Igbo in the north, NYC may force influential Igbo leaders to call IPOB to order to avoid endangering the lives of their kith and kin up there. The message, I think, is that the Igbo have more to lose. If that is the NYC strategy, it will work for now. But I don’t know if it will work forever.
However, I think we are muddling too many issues in the heat of the moment. It will serve us better to step back a bit and put some matters in perspective. One, the fundamental issue here is whether or not the agitation for Biafra is legal and legitimate within the context of the UN Charter and if it meets the legal requirements as contained in the Montevideo Convention on agitation for nation states. The requirements are: population, defined territory, a sitting government and capacity to enter into agreements. Under international laws, the Igbo can legitimately request to leave the union of the Nigerian state if these conditions are met. This is a fact.
Two, if the Igbo have made up their minds to leave the union, they can pursue their dream through these relevant international laws and conventions. IPOB’s leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been threatening violence and using vile words on other ethnic groups. Kanu’s call to, and threat of, violence against others, or anyone who tries to stop them, as well as his unpleasant labelling and his hate speeches against other ethnic groups are absolutely out of order. There are better, far more decent ways of achieving independence for Biafra. I oppose the notion that IPOB has to insult other ethnic groups with the most demeaning words to be able to make its point.
Three, the ultimatum given to the Igbo to leave the north is completely out of line. Everything is wrong with it. Everything. Nobody has any right to give any Nigerian quit notice on the basis of their ethnic affiliation. To start with, it is IPOB that is at the forefront of the agitation and it is preposterous to hold every Igbo responsible for the activities and pronouncements of IPOB. There are many Igbo men and women living in the north (and even in Igboland) who do not support IPOB. On what basis would you evict them? Are they automatically guilty for being Igbo? NYC can say “leave Nigeria if you want” but to issue a quit notice is patently out of order.
Four, NYC missed a very big point. The British voted to leave the EU; Britons have not been ordered to quit other EU countries because of that. The Scots held a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom; they were not served quit notice for their aspiration. If the Igbo want to go, the terms can be amicably worked out. I hate to think of another Biafra war. We have been together, officially, since 1914 and I don’t think we have to part on a bloody note. And Biafrans who want to continue living and working in Nigeria should be able to do so under a new arrangement. After all, Nigerians live and work all over the world. That is civilisation. We can break up peacefully if need be.
Five, since the northern youth have so much adrenalin to serve quit notice on a whole ethnic group who are productive economic agents in their domain, why don’t they direct this energy at Boko Haram, the terrorists ruining the north-east? They have burnt mosques and churches, killed Muslims and Christians, abducted boys and girls. Over 20,000 lives have been lost and over 2.1 million northerners turned to refugees in their own country. Why can’t the northern youth issue an ultimatum to Boko Haram rather than the harmless Igbo people going about their business in the north? Why can’t the youth join the army en masse to help root out Boko Haram?
Meanwhile, I reserve special commendation for northern leaders who have risen stoutly to condemn the irresponsible Kaduna Declaration. I particularly salute the northern governors, especially Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, and the emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumin Kabir, for behaving like true elders in these troubling times. May we continue to have builders of peace in the land as we pass through these difficult moments. As for “elders” like Prof. Ango Abdullahi, I hope they will be very proud of themselves when they appear before their Maker to account for the role they continue to play in stoking and nurturing sectional tension in Nigeria.
Finally, I ask south-east leaders to call these guys to order. Many in the north are angry that Igbo of substance have not condemned Kanu’s anti-north rhetoric. But do Igbo leaders support him or are they scared of him? Going by Kanu’s popularity with the street, with so many people now identifying with him and trying to ride on his coattails, Igbo leaders appear as constrained as northern leaders were when there was a mass movement for the introduction of Sharia in the north in the early 2000s. No leader wanted to go against the wind. However, I think tempers must cool first so that we can have a reasonable conversation. My two cents.
AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…
DANGEROUS GAME
While we were at it, a coalition of Niger Delta “militants” on Saturday issued their own notice to northerners to quit the oil region. The deadline coincides with that given to Igbo in the north by Arewa youth groups: October 1, 2017. Who is going to issue the next quit notice? If the “tenants” refuse to vacate the “premises” by the deadline, what is going to happen? Attacks? Arson? Massacres? Extension of the ultimatum? Are we now playing Russian roulette with Nigeria? Are we not starting a dangerous game that could spin out of control? Have we considered the implications for millions of innocent lives? Where will these silly games lead us to? Shootout?
NEW ORDER
I couldn’t believe it when someone told me all the characters that rummage through our luggage at the check-in desks of international airports have been sent packing. Finally! It is only in Nigeria that three agencies search your bags before you check them in. It is so embarrassing and nauseating. After that, Immigration and DSS will check your passports. After that, NDLEA and Customs will interrogate you. Only in Nigeria! Sadly, Nigeria is such an unusual country where strange things become normal and normal things become strange. I am loving Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s executive orders. Some simple things are obviously not too difficult to do. Progress.
HOPE RISING
From the latest data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s export trade value is now more than import, thanks to agricultural exports which increased by 82 percent in the first quarter of 2017. These exports were driven by sesame seeds. Our trade volume hit N5.29 trillion: notably, import decreased to N2.286 trillion and export increased to N3.0059 trillion. These figures are not out of this world, but compared to where we are coming from, they are very encouraging. CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has remained stubborn on these agriculture and FX policies, and he seems to be winning the argument. Cheering.
THERESA MAYHEM
What took over UK prime minister, Mrs Theresa May? Why did she call a snap election — three good years ahead of time — without any pressure from any quarters? To “strengthen her hand” in Brexit negotiations, as she claimed? Who asked for another Brexit vote? She has just spectacularly shot herself in the foot, leading the Conservatives to a poor showing in Thursday’s general election, and turning a majority government into a minority one. Maybe she wanted to discard the toga of becoming PM without an election. Maybe she was cocksure the Conservatives would do well following a good outing in a couple of bye-elections. If it ain’t broke, why break it? Overconfidence.
This talk of breaking up Nigeria is overblown and scaremongering tactics by politicians and their allies to enhance their chances in 2019 national polls. It is too late to break up Nigeria for anyone to reap any meaningful fruits from the exercise. One part of Nigeria cannot leave the union and the rest remain a single unit. The Igbo country will be unviable without the juicy fruit in the Niger Delta. And who said the whole Northern Nigeria is a single homogeneous block. Why won’t everyone want his own country. Igbo leaders in the National Assembly might seat quietly hoping to reap from the Biafran movement. They are in for a big surprise. I am sure the NorthEast and Borno State in particular thought Book Haram militants were friends until their towns were sacked. Secession is a huge Alibaba joke and a Nollywood movie. Keep dreaming whoever is nursing such a failed scheme!
Let me take it up from the opposite direction. What Nigeria needs at this crucial time is LEADERSHIP! Anytime l read news from the online media, with the exception of the Cable, I felt so nauseated to the point that l began to ask “why am l in this country where there seems to be no control of anything” Nigerians these days talk as if they are imbeciles. How can someone in his right thinking suddenly wakes up and orders other Nigerian plying living in his domain to quit? Then, someone says there is freedom of expression. Expression of blasphemy?. What even annoys me these days is that all Nigerians sleep and position their heads towards same direction. The so-called educated (s) have lost their balance; what we have today is elite, even if you can not construct ‘O’ with the base of a bottle, so long you are rich and in position, you are a personality to reckon with. Please leave Prof. Ango Abdullahi out of this matter. The best of a man is in his earliest stage. He had sanely contributed his quota to the progress of this country when it was most needed. Therefore, l don’t really think anything fantastic can come again from his now, on account of his age and state of his mind. Back to the Northern Youth, I am very sure good number of them were not born during the Nigerian civil war, and surely they were still relatively young during the few skirmishes that engulfed the Northwest, where Kaduna is located. Those boys are just Kaduna youths and l believed strongly that whatever opinion they championed, it is primitive, naive, empty and self-sought. Their brothers That witnessed the invasion of good parts of the Northeast region will never contemplate such gutless expression of the NYC. The leadership must be up to date and actively in control. The clueless youths should have spoken to our ruling party to decide firmly on the prolonged and rather intermittent rulership that we are experiencing at the moment instead of galvanising the drumbeat of war. Revolution, they say, eats its own children. Caution.
It baffles me when i see a man yield himself to mindless thought and demonic desires. Not even among the devils can there be so much differences to lead them into hate against one another otherwise the war between heaven and earth should have long been won by heaven and the matter settled. The devils i assure you are very coordinated and are united in their kindoms. It is a pity that humanity have failed and the blacks for that matter. How can some youths wake up one good day and thirst for blood? How can a man thirst to slaughter his fellow man? Something is really wrong with us. The earth is one small planet amongst other planets under the Sun, the Sun one small star amongst other stars under the galaxy and so is the galaxy amongst other galaxies under heaven . A man ought to think about how he is a brute in the human form and confined to live and move on earth alone. Now if he thinks well, he will understand that he needs transverse this great universe. But some youths are thereabout to slaughter their kind in the name of ”quite the North”. I must tell you that these youths are failures. We all are supposed to accomodate one another if truly we know we are humans unless some of us are demons. We are fallen from glory not from grace and the only opportunity we have to ascend back to glory is given us in form of burden i.e. to bear the burden of one another. If a man is rather destroying his fellow man, we should refer him to a spiritual psychatric hospital. It is therefore very true that no sane man will thirst to shed human blood but a man who is spiritually insane. Judge this like wise Solomon; the God who is the maker of heaven and earth cannot lead a blood shed among his own creatures. A woman who is not the mother of ‘the child’ asked King Solomon to divide the child when she contested with the true mother. I advise all men to learn to think and should not be deceived by blind emotion. Enough of the killings of fellow man!
Sounded like a good write-up in the beginning but ended up fumbling in the few last paragraph. I must confess that you started well like a good nationalist you also jettisoned with good people mind but the end your write-up took a particular direction, ‘the selfish and biased direction’. What you want to achieve was clearly stated, you are not writing with a neutral mind, 4this is so embarrassing and nauseating as you claimed. The Igbos said they want to leave and where ask to go, is there any sin in that?. Let me use your words when you said’There are better, far more decent ways of achieving independence for Biafra. I oppose the notion that IPOB has to insult other ethnic groups with the most demeaning words to be able to make its point’, why are you cutting corners again. The June 7 Kaduna Declaration was just a consolidation on the effort of the IPOB,why crying foul, left to me the Declaration was a subconscious assist to the IPOB and so should make use of it positively.
Dan Tukku or whatever, whichever angle you view the piece, it is still one of Simeon Kolawole’s masterpiece. I was once a curb journalist and l don’t just want to engage you in any futile intellectual tango, because it appears you have already formed your opinions. If you look at the sequence of this guy’s writing, not just this, he is not just out to play a devil’s advocate. He always opens the problem, discuss through it and on his own Berths safely on rubbicon where the solution lies. Same theory played out in this episode. The fact that singular Nnamdi Kanu and his likes are championing secession cause, a right thinking person should not create a leeway for such bid to be successful, just as you close your thought in your write up. I still maintain my ground, Africa, except perhaps South Africa, is not place where you agitate for right to self determination without spilling blood with attendant collateral damages. If the Igbo are desirous of self governing, Nnamdi Kanu and those boys he calls his followers are just too minor yo kick start the struggle without killing a soul. By the way,let me just ask, what is the basis for the Igbo agitation for secession? Is the concord hotel in Owerri that will serve as their new found nation’s 5 star hotel? Or the Onitsha bridge that will link them to the outer world. I don’t want to sound Scarry here, I just think there must be heavily fixed structural, financial and material assets on ground before they rally their people for anything, so that the Southern Sudan issue does not play out there. Warning.
SOMETHING MUST HAVE GONE WRONG SOMEWHERE IN MY COUNTRY.
looking fully and understanding carefully about the issue spreading both within and outside the country about the quit noticed given by AYF is ungodly, but a welcoming development to Arewa people.
The northerners have been torture molested and harass in their own country by mostly Igbo people because of the reasons only know to them.
Northerners are very friendly and accommodating people whose there interest is to cover all irrespective of religion and political barriers.
It’s a home for all
Northerners give them land to build sell them property’s play with them yet they are Still complaining that Northerners are wicked.
All the their right as a citizen was not deprived whatsoever but yet the have no other enemies than Hausas
It’s ungodly act to use violent in solving problems that requires both internal and external attentions.
It’s not my wish and wish of every citizens that Nigeria to disintegrate as a good citizens of this great nation.
I hopefully pray so God WILL guide, Unite and protect the integrity of our nation.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA
Please, read wide’. Nobody is against us and we should learn to co-habited with other Nigerians
Our Northern brothers must realize that the Igbos hold them responsible for their marginalization in Nigeria because since 1970 when the civil war ended until 1999, the Nigerian Federal Government was in the control of the North and throughout that period, they refused to establish any Federal presence in the South East. It is easy to gloss over this point until you put yourself in the shoe of an Igbo man whose people are treated as conquered people. You cannot understand the agony of an Igbo young man or woman whose hope of securing a job after graduating from the University is either by migrating to Lagos or Abuja. It sounds good to say Igbos go and develop the East without thinking of the purchasing power of the Easterners. As Igbos, our anger and disappointment are justified because we’ve been made to feel unwanted in the Nigerian Nation.
If you disagree with me, point out one industrial establishment, from the steel mills, refineries, roads, railways,etc that is located in the South East in the past 50 years. Yet you people don’t wants us to complain. So I as an Igbo man, I hold the North responsible for impoverishment of the Igbos. From General Gowon, Gen.,Gen. Muritala, Gen Buhari, Gen Abacha to Gen Adbulsalami. Through all these people, the North controlled the resources of Nigeria with their Yoruba allies and excluded the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria.
Every Nigerian, irrespective of your tribal and political affiliation must realize that there CAN NEVER BE PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE. We Igbos are only asking for justice in the Nigerian Federation, without which Nigeria can never have peace no matter what the Northern Youths do or don’t do.