On
the 50th anniversary of its bloody civil war, Nigeria is struggling to
prevent another? A referendum on the preferred system of internal
governance is crucial, even though recent calls for fiscal federalism
have come from politicians who are more interested in cornering the
nation's wealth than redistributing it for common good.
File photo: Biafra supporters
On August 1, 1966, after the collapse of last-ditch attempts by
Nigeria's power brokers to prevent the impending civil war, Lieutenant
Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu said only one thing would make the rebels cease
fire: "that the Republic of Nigeria be split into its component parts;
and all southerners in the North be repatriated to the South and that
Northerners resident in the South be repatriated to the North".
On May 30, 1967, Oxford-educated Ojukwu declared Biafra an
independent state in the southeast of the country. On July 6, 1967,
civil war broke out in Nigeria, which claimed more than a million lives
in just three years.
Fast-forward to June 2017. Irked by renewed secessionist calls from
the same Igbo ethnic group, a coalition of northern groups issued a
notice, demanding "all Igbo currently residing in any part of Northern
Nigeria to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in
the East are advised likewise".
Although made 51 years apart, those two statements are strikingly
similar. Since the first was followed by a war, there is real reason to
worry that the second could prompt another.
Last week's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Nigeria's
civil war should have been an opportunity for Nigerians to remember the
ills of war and to vow not to let it happen again. Instead, the voices
of secession raged even louder.
Secessionist movement an indictment of past leadership
The resurrection of the clamour for secession five decades since
the civil war is simply the result of serial leadership failure in
Nigerian politics. When the war ended in 1970, Yakubu Gowon, then head
of state, promised to "build a nation, great in justice, fair trade, and
industry". But he and his successors didn't.
Although there is no evidence of efforts to specifically ignore the
plight of the Igbo, generations of corrupt and selfish leaders have
entered and vacated office with no real plan to rebuild the East from
the ruins of war, neither have they done anything for the
insurgency-ravaged North-East. They have been filling their pockets with
public funds while ignoring a disenchanted youth and growing anger.
Now, the Igbo youth is ready to do anything, including sacrificing
their lives, to actualise the dream of an independent Biafra. Some 150
of them already died for this cause between August 2015 and August 2016.
The series of military crackdowns on pro-Biafra activists was a grave
error by the authorities as it has spawned clusters of bellicose Igbo
youth who want to avenge their brothers' deaths. Anyone who has
physically met secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu's apostles, or read their
viperous online comments, will admit that quite a number of them are
seething with rage that can only be thawed by the highest level of tact
from the government.
A referendum on the preferred system of internal governance is
crucial, even though recent calls for fiscal federalism have come from
politicians who are more interested in cornering the nation's wealth
than redistributing it for common good.
The absence of that kind of tact is arguably the reason for the
escalation of the Biafra agitation in the last two years. After all,
Kanu, the face of the secessionist movement, was little-known until
October 2015 when the Muhammadu Buhari government arrested him and
subsequently disobeyed court orders granting him bail.
He was eventually released in April this year, but thanks to that
unlawful detention Kanu exchanged his freedom for undeserved martyrdom.
Now, what should have been an intelligent campaign for
self-determination has been entrusted to a man whose message is
primarily driven by emotion and aggression.
'Nigeria's unity is non-negotiable'
The most important question regarding the secession of Biafra is,
of course, whether Nigeria's unity is negotiable. President Buhari has
said it a few times, and his vice - now acting - president, Yemi
Osinbajo has reiterated it: Nigeria's unity is not negotiable. According
to them, secession is not and will never be on the negotiation table.
The superficial argument behind this claim is that the Nigerian
Constitution is unequivocal in its exclusion of secession when it states
in Section 2(1) that "Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble
sovereign state to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria".
But Biafra is not a fresh secessionist movement - it is a
50-year-old idea. And, regardless of the grave shortcomings of its
current proponent, a 50-year-old movement cannot be dispelled with a
wave of the hand or by locking up the proponent or brandishing the
Constitution. The Nigerian government must come up with an agreeable,
realistic and practical solution to this problem.
In its ninth section, the same constitution provides for dialogue
on the possibility of amending Nigeria's indissolubility. But for this
amendment to come into force, not less than two-thirds majority of state
and federal legislators must support the move. So, instead of saying an
outright "no" to Biafra, Buhari and Osinbajo should remind the
secessionists of what they must do: lobby the legislature. Everyone
knows the success rate is negligible, if not nil, but good luck to them
if they succeed.
A referendum on internal governance
Importantly and urgently, Nigeria needs a referendum. There is
palpable public frustration with a governance structure that allocates
the lion share of the country's earnings to the federal government while
leaving states to scramble for crumbs. A referendum on the preferred
system of internal governance is crucial, even though recent calls for
fiscal federalism have come from politicians who are more interested in
cornering the nation's wealth than redistributing it for common good.
Now is the time to take the decision to the public court. Some may
criticise direct democracy as the "tyranny of the majority", but there's
no other option for a Nigerian state where the tyranny of the ruling
minority is monumental.
Neither history nor currency is on the side of Biafra. Only two
secessionist movements have ever succeeded in Africa: Eritrea from
Ethiopia after 30 years of war, and South Sudan from Sudan in 2011 after
22 years of war - the latter still as war-torn as the pre-2011 Sudan.
Herein lies the lesson for Biafra agitators: Secession from Nigeria will
not solve their problems unless accompanied by conscientious
leadership.
Nigeria, meanwhile, must go back 50 years to draw its own lessons:
These types of agitations can lead to war. If the south-easterners don't
want to stay, let them go. Fragmentation is a million times better than
the devastation of war.
About the Author:
Fisayo Soyombo is editor of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and published this article on Aljazeera.
0 comments:
Post a Comment