By Ochereome Nnanna
We are now
concentrating on the militants to know how many they are, especially in terms
of groupings, leadership and to plead with them to try and give Nigeria a chance.
“I assure them that
the saying by Gen. Yakubu Gowon that ‘to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done’ still
stands. In those days we never thought of oil all we were concerned about was
one Nigeria.
“So please pass this message to the militants, that one Nigeria is not negotiable and they had better
accept it. The Nigerian Constitution is clear as to what they should get and I
assure them, there will be justice.” –
President Muhammadu Buhari, to some residents of Abuja who paid him Sallah homage recently.
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| *Buhari |
President Buhari
President Buhari’s off-the-cuff statement above provides an opportunity for us
to pick the mindsets of Nigerians on what they really mean by the concept of “One Nigeria”. It is obvious that “One Nigeria” does not have a single meaning
for all of us; going by the way we carry on, especially when we find ourselves
in positions of power as Buhari currently does.
Let me describe my
own idea of One Nigeria. It is a crossbreed between the Zikist and Awoist visions
of the unity of Nigeria.
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the father of African Nationalism and foremost exponent of Nigeria’s independence,
believed in a Nigeria where all citizens would share one
vision and national aspiration, irrespective of their tribes, tongues, regions,
religions, majority or minority status. That is the kind of nationalism
practised in Ghana,
a country whose foremost independence proponent and Pan-Africanist, Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah, was inspired by the Great Zik.
In Ghana,
tribe, region and religion are no impediments to national unity. That is why
the longest-ruling head of state, John Jerry Rawlings (a minority), was able to
seize power and sanitise Ghana.
He laid a solid foundation for today’s success story. Contrast this with Nigeria,
where an earlier attempt by Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and his colleagues ended up
being given an ethno-religious and regional toga. It resulted in a civil war at
the end of which Nigeria became a colonial booty of Arewa (the
Muslim North). The Awoist version of One Nigeria recognised the differences
between the various groups and sought to establish a structure in which all
these groups could live within their geopolitical enclaves and aspire
competitively for the greatness of a united nation. Nobody’s ethnic, religious
or cultural hang-ups would slow down the progress of others who do not share
these hang-ups, and yet all would belong equally and equitably to one nation in
spite of their complex diversity. This arrangement is often described as “true federalism”.
So, in this Nigeria of my dreams, those who want to
practice Islamic Sharia in their home zone can go ahead. Those who want to cut
off the hands of their thieves and overpopulate their home zones with
illiterate citizens will not be an impediment to my section which wants to
exercise population control, give good education to the young people and offer
them a modern, civilised lifestyle comparable to the best in the world. You use
what you produce to cater for your people but pay rents to the Federal Government
to maintain the common services that bind us together as people of One Nigeria.
But you do not use your landmass and population to parasite upon and terrorise
others and suck their resources dry in the name of “One Nigeria” which, you insist, is
“non-negotiable”.
