By Ogbaegbe Michael

“The sight of a united Nigeria’s light lifts Africa, and with it, the world.”

Those were the words of Stuart Symington, the US ambassador to Nigeria, on Thursday 29th June in a speech to celebrate the 241st anniversary of American independence.

Symington went further to say that “just like the United States, Nigeria is a wonderfully diverse nation whose differences and diversity are sources of strength and reason for pride”.

This heartwarming compliment of Stuart Symington might have come exactly two years one month late, considering what I consider our last chance at achieving a one united Nigeria. Muhammadu Buhari ‘was’ our last trial at a united, unrestructured, undivided Nigeria. So, the Buhari presidency might mark the end of history for Nigeria.

NIGERIA NO LONGER ONE

Take it or leave it, Nigeria is no longer one. This might sound pessimistic to those passionate about a one united Nigeria. I also have love for our diversity. I know that diversity can be a source of great strength. But sadly things have gone terribly out of hand the center can no longer hold.

I am an Igbo, from Imo state, but I live in Abuja. Last month I travelled home for a wedding and I spent time briefly in Onitsha and Awka in Anambra State before heading to my village. The first surprise package I got was that majority of Igbo people in the East are now interested in what is happening in government at the centre. Thanks to the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu.

The second package is that the feeling there is very bad. Majority of Igbo in the East, old and young alike, no longer feel they belong to Nigeria. For them, their life is their hustle; there is completely no government at the federal level. This is not the usual feeling we have as Nigerians of how our government is not performing. This is bitterness. This is great anger that they have been deceived for so long with the idea of one Nigeria. But they are now certain that there is nothing like that.

I spent few days with some of my colleagues as a post graduate student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University. And the story is the same. For them Nigeria was structured to benefit the North and marginalize the South East. That it is time to call it a quit.

Even more revealing was the hot argument we had, relatives and friends, a night before my brother’s wedding. This people travelled home from different states in Nigeria, mainly the South Eastern States. Some of them came from Port-Harcourt, some Aba, some Onitsha, others Benin.

And they are not, as commonly assumed, individuals who are hopeless about their present life and feel the advent of Biafra will bring miraculous packages. These are people who are doing well in their businesses. Chidi, my cousin, who does business in Ariaria International market Aba came back with his newly bought car, which was part of the celebration.

For these my relatives in the South East, Nigeria makes one suffer so much to get very little. The belief in a United Nigeria is completely lost in them. And the idea that something good will come from Abuja politics is perceived as evil.

A lot of factors contributed to this horribly state of affairs. But I will highlight just three I think constitute the bitterness in the heart of many.

• The Presidency of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
• The Detention of Nnamdi Kanu
• The Presidency of Muhammadu Buhari

THE PRESIDENCY OF GOODLUCK JONATHAN

I was in Awka, the Anambra state capital, when Jonathan was the president of Nigeria. So I felt the groaning of Igbos in the South East then. What is playing out now in the name of Biafra was the animosity built up then.

This is because the common people in the South East did not feel any good impact of Jonathan’s presidency. We were only bombarded with stories of fraud from Abuja. Though then we never envisaged that things, as bad as they were, could get even worst.

Then the road network in the South East was terrible. Power supply was extremely poor, and there was no pipe borne water anywhere. The story is still the same to date, but what made it very painful during Jonathan’s tenure was that he claims to be ‘one of us’.  One singular project that would have been on record in his favour was the Second Niger Bridge. But that was yet another political scam.

To be blunt, Jonathan sowed the seed of what we have today as a divided Nigeria. He saw this whirl wind blowing today, but he neglected it, probably with the thought that the people can always be bought with ninth-hour palliatives.

During Jonathan’s presidency some Igbos were part of the government. Abuja connection trended in the South East then. But selfishness and greed couldn’t let them advise the president right. These Elites attracted no significant infrastructure back home. For them it was just an opportunity to flaunt power and money; that which the Hausas have enjoyed since independence.

No wonder Jonathan was helpless during the 2015 election. Majority of Igbos in Abia and Anambra states refused to vote for him. It appeared as if there was an agreement to boycott voting during the presidential election. The statistics are there for clarification.

THE DETENTION OF NNAMDI KANU

It has to be noted that the first wind of ‘Change’ felt in the South East was the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu. As if Kanu intentionally showed up to be arrested to prove his statements on how brutish Buhari’s presidency will be.

Kanu was arrested just five months into Buhari’s administration. And he was detained for 19 months; what many Nigerians and non-Nigerians have rightfully described as an illegal detention. The detention and the drama that played out during Kanu’s case made majority of Igbo people in the South East interested in happenings in Abuja. These people came to better appreciate the enormous power that government at the center wields, and their comparative haplessness.

The obvious manipulation of our justice system and the disrespect to court rulings by the federal government made many Igbos in the South East feel completely voiceless in the midst of the present administration.

For majority of them, the arrest and unjust detention of Nnamdi Kanu drew the war line between the South East and the Nigeria Government. It completely became a thing of “us against them.”

Nigeria became for many Igbos in the South East a term that represents marginalization and brutish use of might. While the word Biafra became a symbol of brotherliness and common purpose. This is the feeling you get in the South Eastern Nigeria right now. Even those who have never participated in the struggle for seccession now wish for the devolution of Nigeria.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI’S PRESIDENCY

Buhari’s presidency has proved right the anxiety and fear Igbos in the South East nursed about it. The popular perception about Buhari is that he is that Northern Leader that neither respects, nor understands Igbo people. And Buhari’s style of leadership has further buttressed these points.

It is glaring that the present government headed by Muhammadu Buhari has no kind words for the Igbo. Buhari, it appears, had no memory of love from the South East and has no plan of showing the region any love. Just a look at the heads of various government parastatals and agencies as appointed by Buhari tells the story better.

Buhari’s presidency has only bred feelings of marginalization and division in the South East. With his lopsided appointments and harsh economic policies, Buhari has made Nigeria inhabitable for some people. No wonder they are opting out.

MY TAKE

The successive government we have had at the center has failed serially to deliver on the dividends of democracy, and the people are fed up. We cannot keep doing the same thing the same way and still expect different results.

For how long will people be fed with the talk that the coming president will be a father to all Nigerians and will fix the country? I think campaign on such basis is over in Nigeria, Buhari was the last experiment.

People in the South East, majority of Igbos there, are fed up with Nigeria and her promises of better life. The demand of greater number of people Igbos in the South East is outright secession: the emergence of the sovereign state of Biafra.

But I am sure the idea of restructuring into independent states may appeal to many, and so douse the present tension.

I agree with the US Ambassador to Nigeria on his remarks that a united Nigeria is strength; not just to Nigeria, but to Africa and the world. But unfortunately the idea of united Nigeria no longer appeal to many Nigerians, especially Igbo’s living in the South Eastern part of Nigeria.  This people feel excessively marginalized and dejected.

After the history of June 12, 1993, and how the people and God-given mandate of Chief MKO Abiola was brutally denied by Ibrahim Babangida, I dare say that no Nigerian individual can ever again enjoy the consensus of citizens from the six geopolitical zones.

According to the American Political Scientist, Francis Fukuyama, the three component pillars of a stable state are Strong and Modern, Rule of Law, Accountability. A united un-restructured Nigeria can never be perceived by its citizens as being led on this tripod. And if these values that make a liberal democratic state stable are not achievable in Nigeria where then lies the strength of a united Nigeria?

It has to be known to all friends of Nigeria that the continual stability of the Nigerian nation lies on how the present government handles this very important idea of devolution of power.

Unless government at the center takes this call seriously and finds modalities to implement it peacefully, secession will be the ultimate end of the present rancor in Nigeria. And who knows how that will play out?

Ogbaegbe, an author and Philosopher, writes from Abuja. He can be reached via: [email protected]