Nigeria was midwife by the desperate British colonialists, who were in search of raw materials for their industries in the seventeenth century. The collectivities that made up the present Nigeria were several independent nations that were long running their affairs. The fusion of the said nations was by force, as their consents were never sought. The union confirmed Frantz Alexander description of various ethnic groups as “ antagonistic cooperation”. They continue to occupy same “geographical expression “ but directly or indirectly hostile to each other. Even after a century coexistence, the hosility among the various ethnic group became far more pronounced than ever before. Egoistic interests remain the most powerful weapon the political elites use in galvanising and securing their selfish interest.
On 19th December, 1959, in Kaduna, Sir Ahmadu Bello stated: “ When this current political battle is over, I will divide this country of Nigeria between two of my trusted lieutenants, one for the North and one for the South. Today, I have the lieutenant for the South here and this is why we are here”. That statement had since made the Southern politicians to be weary of the former followers till date. Daddy Onyeama, a renowned Jurist, once declared that “ Ibo’s rule over the whole of Nigeria was only a question of time. And that the “ Ibo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time”. So in January 15, 1966, when Kaduna Nzeogwu-led coup struck and the casualities of that coup were majorly Hausa and Yoruba, the Northern army officers revenged the death of their kinsmen six month later by murdering the igbos both in the military and civilians.
Fourty years later, the Igbos are back in the abandoned Biafra Republic agitation, but unlike the Ojukwu Chukwuemeka’s arms struggle, but on a peaceful demand for the right of secession. The Igbos are no fools for getting back in the trenches especially, but their demand is a child of necessity, due to the continuous denial of fair sharing of political patronages. The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, while reacting to the lopsided appointments protests, declared: “ If I selected people whom I know quite well in my political party; whom we came all the way right from the All Nigeria’s People Party, Congress for Progressive Change and APC, and have remained together in good or bad situation; the people I have confidence in and I can trust them with any post, will that amount to anything wrong? “. The President ought to have remembered Section 14 (4) and 147 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended. A situation where out of 36 ministers appointed by the President in which 24 were chosen from the North is a violation of our Constitution. An examination of the the security appointments lists tilted to the North by 90%.
The Niger Delta areas has continued to protest over the environmental degradation they suffered. History will continue to remind us that there was once one Niger Delta warrior called Adaka Boro, who led his youthful groups on a 12-day war of Republic of Niger Delta. The young man lost the battle but later fell at the Biafra war front. Next after him, as was prophetically proclaimed, that others would certainly continue after Boro was the Environmentalist Ken Saro Wiwa and his Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) that used instrument of persuation to draw attention to the degradation of the Ogoni land, but the late General Sanni Abacha used divide and rule to scatter the movement and later brought the group leaders, including Wiwa, before Special Tribunal with criminal charges on his kneck that eventually led to their hanging without waiting for their case to be appealed.
The MEND and the Ijaw Youths Congress refused to allow Wiwa and Boro to rest in their graves, by implication, they declared the Kaima Declaration in 1998 seeking for “ self freedom, self determination and ecological justice”. They were eventually placated with amnesty programmes by the late Yar’Adua’s administration. The 2015 election promised to plunge the nation into a needless civil war, which was averted through prominent Nigerians and international interventions. But there were threats that if the election failed to favour the incubent President, the incoming President might not find things easy. Maybe that threat was what led to the birth of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) or not, the Niger Delta Areas is currently smoking with bombs of oil pipilines today and the Nigerian economy is lying postrate and dying. If the ADC should have their ways, there is the likelihood of declaration of Niger Delta Republic. The Federal government too is not likely to fold its hands and close its eyes to such declaration.
The question to be addressed by the people of Nigeria is the question of “ whether the continued membership or unity of Nigeria is negotiable or not”. Prominent Nigerians and non-Nigerians have expressed their views on the negotiation of our togetherness. From the history, other nations that have either separated peacefully or by violence have emerged; India and Pakistan, Sudan that has been divided into two as Northern and Southern Sudan, Northern Korea and Southern Korea are not left out. The Yugoslavia settled their separation by war in 1991 to 2001 before they broke-up into six. Scotland had tested their continous stay in the United Kingdom through referendum and they are still not satisfied with the outcome. Since our union was not based on mutual amalgamation but was done through coercion by the rampaging colonialists for economic exploitation. It is time to give attention to the agitators, who felt they want self-freedom and a republic of their own.
The clamour for restructuring is now stretching from the South to the North, and the present Federal Government cannot but respond to the people’s demands. Although there is no provision for succession in our Constitution, but our National Assembly members will have to drop their personal agenda for life pension and legslative immunity and address the issue of self-freedom and secession. It has even been mentioned by the House of Representatives that they would be considering the recommendations of the last National Confab. In case the recommendations did not include and answer to those who are agitating for secession, there is nothing stopping the National Assembly from inserting referendum in the Constitution for those who see the need to move out of the present Nigeria states. We can no longer pretend as if there are no challenges on our membership of the goegrahical expression called Nigeria.
Over hundred years of coexistence as a country, we have refused to become a nation, we are daily moving apart than ever before. The few who prefer the continuity of Nigeria are possibly the political elites that derive personal profits from the position they are occupying. Economically, the present union is gradually finding it difficult, if not impossible, to perform their duties of securing life and properties, as stipulated by Section 14 (4) of the 1999 Constitution. The quasi-Federalism has impoverished the states, who today are with bowls in their hands, begging for the little monthly stipends from the centre.
The nation is gradually becoming hard and unsafe over the ongoing bombing of oil instalations and sensitive places by those who are discontent by the nature of things in Nigeria. We are gradually going down the river but before we all get drowned in the muddled river of restructuring and seccetion, let us come to the peaceful round table, where we can amicably settle our future direction because of our children and the coming generations.