With the advent of this political dispensation, which began
in May 1999, the north sank deeper into a sea of poverty, illiteracy and
joblessness amidst the greed of rapacious, conscienceless ruling class, whose
only target is to be at the centre of power irrespective of how the region
fared. Ignorance and medeocratism have
taken over at the expense of saner minds.
The north, steeped in history of unity, compromises and leadership
sagacity, has turned its back on its past.
While the late Sir Ahmadu Bello shone light on the region during the pre
and the immediate post-independence period, the region is now so fragmented
along ethno-religious lines that the emergence of another Sir Ahmadu Bello may
be near impossible. Our matchless source
of power has been our unity, but we have abandoned this in favour of “elite
power”. Is it any wonder therefore that
the region was brought to its knees in all facets of human endeavour right
before its competitors?
The massacre of northern political and military leaders on
the night of January 15th, 1966 left a region trying to play
catch-up with the rest of the country rudderless. The unification decree promulgated by the
Ironsi government was specifically targeted at the “feudal north”, whatever it
may mean. It was meant to curb the
perceived overbearing influence of the region on the affairs of the
country. But if ‘truth be told’, to
paraphrase the name of one of the January 1966 coupists books, the decree was
meant to strengthen the hands of the Igbos in all spheres of the country’s
polity.
Much as those who want to rewrite the history of the
immediate post-independence Nigeria would want the rest of the world to believe
that the secession and the subsequent civil war was a consequence of the
isolated killing of Igbos in Kano, the north must strive to bring to fore the
real version of history and the chronology of historical events that led to the
thirty month old needless civil war. The
Igbos, by their actions on January 15th, 1966 and the subsequent
triumphal attitude displayed in northern towns ignited the fire that nearly
engulfed them. The starvation theory and
the 20 pounds payout by a benevolent federal government to every Igbo person
after their surrender can all be traced to the actions of their leaders. We are now reliving this same attitude, which
pitted brother against brother.
When Nzegwu and his band of killers murdered northern and
western political and military leaders to the total exclusion of those of
eastern extraction, the Igbos applauded them and basked in the mistaken glory
of dominating the rest of the country.
Not a single Igbo elite condemned this barbarism. When the north woke from its slumber, the
cries of “pogrom” rented the air.
Killing the political and military leaders of the north wasn’t a crime
but “retaliatory” action by northern military officers was worth branding a
whole region as barbaric. The killing of
Ironsi was a result of the failure of his government to prosecute those who
carried out the massacre of January 15th. To northerners at the time, those massacred
by Nzegwu and company were men of matchless virtue, faith and character.
With the emergence of Nnnamdi Kanu on the eastern horizon and
criminal silence from the Igbo elite, it may appear history is about to repeat
itself. An upstart, barely literate
wanabe has taken to the airwaves in the last two years hurling insults at the
leadership and people of the north with no single condemnation from the Igbo
elite. He was rather egged-on by those
who should know better. He is received
in government houses and palaces with pomp normally reserved for royalty. Action as is known begets reaction. Getting fed up with the insults from Kanu and
the deafening silence from the Igbos, particularly those living in the north,
some northern youths came together and issued what they called “quit notice” to
Igbos living amidst them. That they
should leave the region on or before October 1st, 2017. Then all hell broke loose. A hitherto pliant government got to action by
inviting various groups to Aso Villa for only God knows what. The Igbo elites found their voice and those
living in the north began running to government houses and palaces to pledge
their allegiance to a united Nigeria.
Suddenly Kanu doesn’t represent anybody; he is on his own; he is a
lunatic. But is that what we see? Come on;
please let’s be real.
The Igbos only now realised how the hospitality of the
northerners made it possible for them to have investments worth N44 trillion in
the region. They forgot to tell us the
total investments of all northerners living in the east. While the hospitality of the average
northerner made it possible for the Igbos to have this quantum of investment in
the north, the hostility of the average Igbo man made it impossible for anybody,
from any part of the country to live and invest in Igboland.
The never-ending excuse is ‘marginalisation’. Have the Igbos cared to know how the rest of
the country fared under ‘their’ government of Goodluck Jonathan when Pius Anyim
and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala held sway? If my
memory serves me right, the Yorubas were not worse than the Igbos now, yet they
didn’t threaten the country; the north was turned into a battleground and was
perpetually under siege from Yola to Sokoto with all its attendant
consequences, yet they bided their time.
When the time came (2015 general elections), the north and the west, the
two regions ‘marginalised’ by Jonathan and the Igbos, came together and kicked
them out of Aso Villa. The folly of
those who supported Jonathan massively is now blamed on the rest of the
country. Every uncouth language hurled
at the rest of the country by any lunatic fringe is fair game.
I do not choose to live under a union where the victim is
always portrayed as the villain by an uncritical and biased press. If the Biafra advocates, proponents of
restructuring and purveyors of such other mundane clichés will have the courage
of their convictions, let them come out to call for the dissolution of the
union. We can then sit at a round ( or
even oblong) table to decide along which lines we will go our separate
ways. The marriage is not worth the
insults.
Enough is enough
No comments:
Post a Comment