The North is breaking up Nigeria!

There is a persisting but fundamental disconnect between the political views of leading politicians and policy makers from Northern Nigeria on the one hand, and those from the South on the other hand. The disagreements are beginning to assume increased dichotomous and nagging patterns, and considering the history of Nigeria, it is time for true patriots to speak up. What is most worrisome is the neo-Orwellian construct which some clever but unpatriotic revisionists are trying to design, smuggle in and consolidate into accepted norms of our national code of conduct. This design constitutes a self deceiving ruse, and is being packaged and bulldozed upon the national psyche as the truth; luckily for the country, Nigerians are becoming increasingly interested in the way the country is being run, and are thus beginning to ask some hard questions. Nigerians are also starting to see an invidious pattern; a pattern whereby a section of the country garners all the juicy federal appointments to the near total exclusion of other sections; in a country of 150 million, 250 ethnic groups, and at least 5 viable nationalities. The issue now transcends party affiliation, and creates an unprecedented scenario whereby cries of marginalization are coming from within the ruling party. Never before in Nigeria had a ruling party –which was formed as a broad based national movement- been completely hijacked by a section of the country openly pushing a sectional agenda.

Again, bearing in mind that the same North has been ruling Nigeria since independence and  not moved the country forward; is there any sense in it continuing to hold onto power this way? After almost 50 years of independent nationhood, Nigeria is still not able to perform the most basic functions of a responsible nation state. Yet, elements in Northern Nigeria find wisdom in cornering and holding all key positions of responsibility. In light of the open incompetence of the North in running the affairs of Nigeria, and the similarly egregious violation of the Federal Character laws -which the North put in place originally to forestall similar actions by other sections against it – by rapaciously garnering all sensitive Federal appointments; the North must urgently revisit these appointments in the interest of Nigeria.

The abrasive mien of this issue demands urgent action, and this fact could be attested to by the statements from the Southern Senators Forum (SSF). Rising from a meeting on June 24, 2009, the Southern Senators released a statement observing that the Federal government of Umaru Musa Yar adua is increasingly sectional and openly marginalizing the entire Southern Nigeria. Senator Patrick Osakwe who spoke on behalf of the Southern senators also singled out the military campaigns in the Niger Delta where the Nigerian military have used heavy weapons against fellow Nigerians. The senators further warned that the problem of militancy in the region could only be resolved by peaceful means through addressing the issues of true federalism and environmental degradation of the region. The senators were particularly irked by the massive “Northernisation” of key Federal positions. They also observed the non-renewal of the ex Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor’s mandate, and noted that the ex-CBN boss was a victim of sectionalism. The senators made some specific statements which should serve as an ominous warning to the leadership of the nation:

“If Soludo were not a Southerner there is no doubt that he would have had a second term and that was one of the examples of the marginalisation raised”;

“We cannot continue with this kind of injustice and that was the tone of the meeting. In fact, justice and marginalisation were the main issues discussed at the meeting’’;

“Why should one zone have seven states and another one have five states?’’
The most interesting point of note in the SSF position is that most of its members belong to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The question then arises; how come these appointments were made without consideration for the political views and inputs of these Southern Senators? Why are they lamenting and seem as powerless as ordinary Nigerians? How could the PDP marginalize the whole South and yet, the Chairman of the party and the Speaker of the House of Representatives are both Southerners?

To successfully address these questions, we must revisit statements of positions from Northern members of the ruling PDP. As elaborately discussed in my last article “ Nigerian quagmire: the only way forward”, Senator Jubril Aminu was quoted in the Sun Newspapers as stating that unitary system of government is the best system for Nigeria. He stated without equivocation that he and others like himself would work until Nigeria becomes a unitary state. Jubril Aminu is not an ordinary Northerner and could be accurately categorized as a thoroughbred Northern political opinion leader. Careless observers of the Nigerian political space could be dismissive of Aminu’s views about the future of Nigeria, but that would be a great mistake because Aminu is also a chieftain of the ruling PDP! Take the statements by Alhaji Sule Lamido, Nigeria’s former Minister of External Affairs and current Governor of Jigawa State for instance. Lamido was quoted after a meeting with the PDP chairman Ogbulafor in Abuja,

“Our duty as a political party is to crush them. My duty in PDP and as a party man is to go and destroy our opponents; that’s my duty. A party is different from a government. The first commitment in joining a party is to go into election and win. We enter into the contest for the purpose of winning the election. I have no business to go into a Mosque or a Church to pray for the victory of ANPP, AC or any other party. You don’t form a party for the purposes of going to election to loose. The purpose of forming a party is to win peoples confidence and respect; to gain authority and power to lead them. You don’t go to election and say, after 50 years, I will hand over power to the opponents. You don’t say a thing like that. PDP will keep on contesting and winning every election from now till eternity. I have no apology for my statements over our stay in power. We will stay for ever because the other political parties are crying.
I have no apologies for demolishing smaller parties. I will continue to do that. I shall do that and I will not stop. That is my commitment to the party and I have no regrets over that.”

There are several faulty premises of the Lamido logic and what that logic portends for the future of Nigeria as a country. For someone who held the portfolio of the chief Minister of External Affairs of the Federal Republic, those statements are unfortunate indeed! The Lamido political doctrine is completely anti-democratic and almost totalitarian. The “Party” Lamido envisages is not only implicitly superior to the Nigerian state –whose constitution calls for multiparty political system- but makes no apologies for the illegal emasculation and decimation of opposition parties by hook or crook. To Lamido, there is a “party based civil war” raging in Nigeria and all is fair in this war provided the PDP emerges victorious at the end. Why could this be equated with totalitarianism or even fascism? Well, the opposition in Nigeria is currently in disarray due to constant rigging of elections and stealing of the citizen mandate by the PDP. If the ruling party steals the elections long enough, the opposition would soon become unviable, thereby leaving the entire political space for one party. Why is this scenario dangerous? The current cries of marginalization are not coming from the opposition; the cries are coming from within the ruling PDP. In order words, the PDP has successfully seized the national political space, but elements within the party have seized the national assets for sectional reasons and are excluding other sections of the country inside the party. It should concern every Nigerian because a civil war within the PDP could easily become a civil war for the country! Why are the few party officials and even the elected representatives powerless about the situation?

They are powerless because they were NEVER elected by their peoples in the first place, but where instead imposed through rigging of elections by the PDP. A philosophical saying recommends that anyone going for equity must approach with clean hands, and none of these PDP Senators and so-called party men and women could boast of clean hands. Not withstanding the illegitimacy of these “elected” national assembly members, their views on this issue accurately reflect popular opinions from the south. That is why patriotic Nigerians must strongly resist the undemocratic impositions of elected officials on Nigerians. We must realize that the nation has been captured by some of the most unscrupulous and unpatriotic set of Nigerians ever recorded in Nigeria’s political history. Nigerians must collectively rise up to “shout down” and reject the views of Aminu and Lamido that Nigeria is a unitary state, and that the PDP must win elections at all costs. The current Constitution states clearly that Nigeria is a Federal State, but stops short of empowering the federating units adequately. The ongoing constitutional amendments should be expedited and concluded to provide that empowerment for the units and enable the nation form a stable platform upon which to build Nigeria’s greatness.

The most destructive aspect of the redesigning of the political space to give undue advantage to the North is that the North have proven for about 40 years that it could not provide effective leadership to the nation. The on-going low level insurrection in the Niger Delta, stem from years of negligence of that vital region by the Northern controlled Federal governments. Nigeria should be redesigned for effective leadership. There was a time in Nigeria when a Hausa man was the Mayor of Enugu the capital of the then Eastern Region. All available information indicates that he did a great job. This could be the case because he was not elected Mayor based on his tribe, but was elected on the basis of his administrative competence. The old Nigerian political and administrative culture gave room for competence even as we struggled with the challenges of unity.

Nigeria was able to achieve much by allowing the institutions of democracy and the national Constitution to lead the way. My vision for Nigeria is for the country to achieve even development from Sokoto to Lagos and from Borno to Cross River. That can only be achieved if the best Nigerians are recruited from any parts of the country to work in any parts of the country. Damaturu should look like any other Nigerian city, not just a semi-arid northern Nigerian city. A Nigerian should be free to live and work in any part of the country without fear of religious extremism and incessant riots. Obnoxious laws which fuel embers of ethnic and religious divisions should be scrapped from the statute books. Federal Character laws should be used for defending our sense of unity, but fair application of justice in appointments (competence based appointments) and resource allocations should be used as instruments of accelerated growth. Nigeria is lagging behind many African countries in development.

When we properly structure and design such a just and fair society, Nigeria’s indivisibility will become self evident.

Okechukwu writes from Chicago USA

okechukwugregory@yahoo.com

Tags: Northern Nigeria grabs all sensitive positions in government