The tranquility of the night is simply divine It’s the only time where peace seems whole and is generously undaunted, with no strong challenges nor barriers. The night is where fear blends like a chameleon in the woods because the darkness becomes the mask that scares even the wild away.
The night is where great secrets are kept and grave secrets are buried. The boldness of the dark deep world that emerges at nightfall empowers and emboldens the wicked whose interests are usually protected by the darkness of the night.
The tranquility of the night remains the sweet serenity upon which equanimity is experienced in completeness as the human body gets to slow down its metabolic rate as well as allow the brain the opportunity to repair body cells, store new information and get rid of toxic wastes. . .
The night therefore is a place of healing but also a place of brokenness, where the mind dwells most times on its disappointments, recalls its frustrations and reminisces on its failures. The night is where tough decisions are made and resolves are maintained. It’s a time when the truth is undiluted because it is told to self. The night is like a book cover and it’s activities like the chapters of the book.
In the night, sounds are louder, everyone is conscious of noise so they talk softly as though not to wake the darkness from its beauty sleep and the tranquility that accompanies it from its slumber. The night is where realities walk naked in pure confrontation as the mind cannot resist the facts which only the mystery of the night can unveil. Besieged by doubt, the mind queries our sanity and exposes our frailty knowing we are not ashamed to let go some tears that may have been welling in our eyes all through the day time. Tranquility is a great gift of peace that the night thus bestows on the tired, while the restless struggle with their sleep like a rattle snake in green grass..
The night is where the conscience re-examines its decisions, reconsiders its options and settles for the most appealing as regarding the thought that has burdened it to action. The tranquility of the night is where tears are silent and sobbing a common feature of letting out displeasures and brokenness the soul only knows. Though some seem to be hypocritic about the reality of what the night holds but most decisions taken are products of the dead of the night where distractions are powerless and the power of reasoning at the advantage. In the night, sadness deepens especially on those who have lost every sense of hope and do not believe that no matter how dark the night might be, there will always be a daybreak at some point.
Tranquility of the night is where bliss fills the mind and projections are lifting, where worries are replaced with moments of indescribable peace and joy beyond comprehension, that place where numbness becomes like an opium and the feeling utopia.
In the night, fates are met and destinies are either made or destroyed by mere words of not so common movers. The night is like an envelop that hides the secret evils of evildoers. . . yet it is the only time where you own your thoughts all by yourself.
A lot of people are so consumed by their desire to be feared that they lose their sense of duty, fairness as well as their humanity in the process. You really don’t have to turn a bully or an insensitive fellow to be feared, even if this is achieved at the end of the day, exactly how long would it last before the people rise up against you? Tyranny, dictationship has never lasted forever. The philosophy that when people fear you, they respect you is completely not true because every human person no matter how logical, is mostly ruled by their emotions and the most dangerous of all emotions is fear… Sometimes when you trigger fear in someone, you may be in for some terrible reaction, something you never saw coming. When some people come under fear, they become highly provocative, unstable, unpredictable, defensive and there is no telling how far they can go to tame or crush that which threatens them… It is just a natural instinct to want to feel safe and free.
Fear is one emotion that brings out the worst in human beings, even animals. On the contrary, a feeling of love and respect gives birth to submission and meekness. Every human person yearns to be treated nicely, even bad people hunger for love and great respect but how do we expect to achieve what we have not given? Today in our society, some parents have turned bullies in their homes where they are supposed to practice and examplify their leaderships skills and qualities. A child who grows up in such an environment should not be blamed for turning out a bully himself or a tyrant whether at school or in future leadership roles or responsibility whether as head of his family, organisation or the people’s representative in whatever capacity or position. The truth remains that he grew up to see that being an authoritarian is the way of life which he or she must uphold to the later. He or she grew up learning that they have to be feared than to be loved. In as much as we crave this evil power called fear, do we also know that there is a limit to which it can go?
It is true that most human beings take simplicity and niceness of others for granted. It is also true that we need to be tough and firm sometimes if we must drive our point home especially on something important for the growth and well-being of all, whether as parents or public leaders. The dynamics of leadership is a skill one must aquire through good timing and patience, knowing when to be close-gained and when to listen also to the people as well as consider their worries and genuine concerns. The concept of the use of force to implement selfish, unyeilding and nonprofitable plans or policies in order to perpetually subdue or engage people in a long lasting fear drive isn’t to anyone’s advantage especially not to the head or leader at the long run. When a parent has satisfactorily discharged his responsibilities to his family wholeheartedly without any form of prejudice or biases, without showing preference to some members of family over others, without also using fear as an instrument to hush the rest for being displeased on the account of injustices served, mental torture or depression they have to go through knowing that they have been cheated, treated as though they aren’t members of the same family or better still as outcasts then such a head or leader has the mental justification and capacity to apply the rule of law without fear or favour but not to use fear or terror as a means to paralyse or flatten the reaction which of course is due and much expected.
To be loved, respected or even feared is one of the many things we get to earn by honestly and sincerely working for them through conscious investment of time, affection, respect and trustworthiness. You will only harvest hate and rebellion when you insist on using force other than love in endearing those you lead or represent either as the head of the house or organisation. Always remember, being feared doesn’t necessarily make one the most powerful person. It only means one thing, that you are despicable and incapable of fair competition.
To birth the peace that is within me is to stand up against impatience in a world filled with rush, aggression and irritability. Groaning voices of the oppressed, a constant feature of the new world order. Whether left, right or centre, the story is the same. Unkempt minds, the albatross of the new age. Ill and evil desperations everywhere you look in full strenght like the brightness of the sun in the fullness of a sunny day. Our world is torn within desires, the worries stirred from the ultimate fear making its rounds in different forms and dimensions. Many are inspired to evil than good, like a drug, the urge is heightened by one successive turn after another. Undoubtably, the warmth of the heart has gone cold resulting from the lasting intimidation of power and authority. The nature of evil is now genuine, its no more a mistake like it used to be. Contemptible it might seem but that’s the face of the new man. Grossly indulging the decadence of everything once held dear and sacred. The pride of mother earth now an aberration in itself and the earth decries the new wave . . .
Gone from the paths once known with the truth seeking to be found someday, the darkness is deep and the influences of the light infuriating, thus, increasing the agony of those who crave to uncover the reality as it was before man went rogue! Determine in newness of the rising tides, the timestamps await a new song. . .the song of liberation, a song of peace we all await. Roll forth the drums and let’s dance to the beat of a new rhythm, the classicals are now over and the beat of rebellion taken over, the streets flooding with so much terror for even cities are no longer safe as the people’s anger keep rising each day through poverty and injustices. Though the twist runs wild, the beasts of the new era on thrones housing the barrage within which the lines of sentiments strive.
Enkindle the wake of nationalism when the chant was patriotic and the cause of separatist an unpopular stand. . . That very place where the worries of the people mattered and their cry a pain that was tended affectionately with utmost concern and effective measures. Gradually, the diffusion of foreign ideas has become the real bane of calamity, for with our own hands, we opened the channels of mental slavery and became the victims of our own design. . . Yet we still cannot see the destruction that looms around us as we insist on ways insufferable. Our dreams of greatness fading right before our very eyes while we look helpless like one under hypnosis. The greed in the new breed is towering so high above actionable means. Come let’s reason some more, it might seem irreparable but I think we can try. Mistakes are bound but we can always find a way. . . All we need is the truth through courage and unwavering commitment. . . We will make it back unbroken to that place where we mattered and our cares and fears the threat we never took kindly. The lessons of time, we have painfully and gainfully learnt. It’s no more time to wail but time to act and make things right again.
BEING ALIVE. . . Being alive each day like today gives us the opportunity to be found, opportunity to complain, opportunity to do things differently, opportunity to mend our ways and become better, opportunity to achieve as well as fail…Opportunity to be opposed, to be hated… Opportunity for new hopes, opportunity to learn more because in life, learning never ends… Opportunity to love more and the opportunity to move on from where we fell or were stuck, opportunity to be wiser by allowing our past mistakes to shapen and correct us and to help us lead a better present. Being alive’s bucket list is so endless but do we really see being alive as an opportunity? Do we really believe being alive is one great miracle we undeservingly enjoy from God each day? Do we think being alive is one achievement beyond purchase? Can money give life? Of course many would say a big “YES” in the context that money answereth all things, right? But may I remind us that money can put one in an oxygen tank but cannot make the person live? Money can provide medical care but cannot give life. Money can buy everything buyable but can not buy one’s life when it’s time. Money can’t even buy you peace of mind or love. All these things we get to enjoy effortlessly . . . These are free gifts that come with being alive. So when we wake up with so much complains and lamentations, may we also be reasonable enough to understand that there are many who would give anything to be alive if there was that option or offer. It’s normal as a living person to want several good things to make life beautiful and fun. It is normal to want a better life and to achieve greatness and be famous, to be a superstar and to call the shots and run life the way you deem fit but can all this be possible if you are in the mortuary or cemetery? Is it not your mates that are dying each day? Some are roaming the streets naked with no sense of sanity. Some are homeless, some with medical conditions that have defied science. Some do not even have the luxury of sleeping except it is induced, while some feel empty and so hollow even with everything you may be envying them for. Life is never really as envisaged. It is never a complete package as you may want it to be, but being alive can get you closer to where you have dreamt to be or will ever dream. So, when you are confronted with the whys’ series, always remember that waking up to life each day is not a normal phenomenon. It is obviously not a guarantee but a rare privilege many don’t wake up to. The corona virus came and ravaged a lot of lives. Businesses were shut down and many hopes and dreams drowned. This is the same way natural disasters are taking their toll right now in different parts of the world destroying many, displacing hundreds of thousands of people each day. . . This could have been you or me or any of our friends or family but we are here. . . We may not be where exactly we wish for but we are alive and that’s what really counts at the end of the day.. It means that there is definitely hope of being in a better place someday, especially when we keep pushing and not quitting, when we appreciate the gift of breath in our lungs, when we are not afraid to fall if that is what it takes to rise again. In all of it, gratitude is the key! Being grateful for everything even the bad ones. No experience is useless. . . It will always come handy at some point in life and only then will it make sense why you had to go through such in the first place. As we begin again, may we recount our blessings and know always that it wouldn’t have been possible if we were not ALIVE!
Many of us do not really see life beyond acquisition. All we think matters is making money all the way… Our craze for wealth and to amass everything that looks like it is just inexhaustible. While it is not a bad thing to amass if it is done rightly, the pertinent question remains, who have you inspired with all of your wealth and in what positive way have you impacted them?
Being an inspiration does not really have anything to do with being wealthy. You can be an inspiration to another by just being a good person, having good morals, the way you carry yourself in the public, your orderliness, cordialiness, your gentility, peace, happiness, intelligence, firmness, decisiveness, truth, honesty and straightforwardness. You can inspire others with your faith or your courage in the face of difficulties. You can inspire others through your hardwork and determination, the list is so endless. To inspire is to cause mental stimulation in someone, a stimulation capable of stirring them towards a kind of creativity that can bring about something gainful which has the ability to add value to their lives and the lives of those around them. People get inspired by others when they realise how those idols of their inspiration have impacted others through their good works or the goodness they represent.
Inspiration is a source through which great ideas are born and creativity is expressed. It is our individual responsibility to inspire one another and likewise the responsibility of the inspired to put to good use the ideas of their inspiration so that those who hear the story of their inspiration may be encouraged to do well as well.
The world will never be wrong with goodness in it. The reason there is so much suffering all round the world and especially in this side of the world is the constant challenge to the act of goodness. That there is failure does not mean that the efforts made are bad but it could be something else, something like applying the right efforts on wrong issues and vice versa. Goodness is the reason many are inspired to do something beautiful, something nice, something memorable because it’s a feeling that is not only soothing but very blissful.
We are at a time where we need to bring everything good on board, to cause a positive change to our system, if we must correct or repair the ills our bad indulgences have caused us over the years. It’s time to let ourselves be inspired by the love that existed or rather that dwelt among us in time past, the love that made us more constructive than destructive, the love that inspired growth over stagnation, the love that gave us courage to want to see a better tomorrow for our children and their generations unborn, the love that gave us the heart then to tolerate our diversities and major on common goals.
Back then, inspiration was at different levels. It ranged from community to individuals or groups of individuals. It was community inspired, when a brilliant child of a poor parent who was obviously threatened to remain uneducated with his talent wasted was spotted, he would be gladly sponsored by such communities to get quality education and attain a life that could make him or her not only live their dreams but be able to do same for another or in other possible ways give back to the community and by so doing inspire more goodness in others, thus creating an atmosphere where people delighted to be associated with good needs and good name than bad. There were individuals who did same to people at their level and caused a positive change in many lives but can we still pride ourselves this much in this regard these days?
To cause an inspiration is to spark, to ignite, to stir another person’s thinking into great birth of beautiful and intelligent creation which is most times humanity oriented. My question now is, have we stopped inspiring others in the good ways we used to or are we doing it wrongly these days? If the answer is no, then I will ask again, what are we doing differently these days to inspire more evils than good in our land?
Fascinated by time… For its wings are far stronger than those of an Eagle.. Time is the real definition of forward ever because it’s irreversible . . . Slow it might seem like the beginning of an early pregnancy but it is the revelation of all things and seasons. Time endures because it’s infinite and there is no rush. Only great minds know the value of time.. Just as it makes new so does it also make old. In time are many fragments of each of our lives. Time is the decent and ascent of all ages. Time controls thoughts and directs actions of all. Time does not struggle for recognition nor does it struggle for relevance because its reputation precedes it in all spheres. Time has no home, it does not stop. . . It’s always on the move, building bridges and breaking fences… Time is the offical moderator of history, it recounts events effortlessly with timestamps. Traversing conveniently between day and night, time is an ardent reminder to all..It carries with it the end at all times in all things. It is the constant determinant of progression.
Time is like a gate way through which all generations come to life . . . The grouchy whispers of grudges only time can contain.. Keeping vengeance sometimes as the reward for a long standing feud.. Evolution is the result only time can echo. Demystifying mysteries and bringing to light the real face of hidden secrets. Choose carefully the pathway that does not lead to regrets as the hands of time are incapable of going backwards.
Great strokes of banging reality only time can accommodate. Time begets memories that keep sipping through the ages like the wind that makes its rounds. Even trees do not have a mind of their own when the storm of time approaches. Turbulent tides showing off strength uncensored while time just keeps watching and waiting for the end.
Time, like a good squad leader, leads everyday through to the next in boundless sequence of a locomotive trend. Fascinated by time, I just cant help but wonder how it all began and when it’s all going to end and where time will be at the end of time.
Assembled in prejudice, the hurt of the past keeps haunting the present. The lies that were told and the damages they caused cannot be undone, yet we are each connected at a deeper level… How do you walk away from yours? How can you endure the thought of absence? How do you banish the memories that the years have helped to build? How do you embrace the constant torture of the mind with so many raging issues unresolved?
Strange thoughts of the future dominate me. Hoping that at some point in time, the diginity of the human mind will be restored . . . So our deeds and actions may redeem our past and our mistakes never to be remembered. Behold the power of imagination! A tool strong enough to enchant the heart by adding beautiful colours to a world with so much dolors.
Though the truth is bitter but joy and freedom are embedded at the end of it all. You stand tall and you stand strong when your heart beats only for love.. But fear and anxiety are the constant partners of a deceitful heart, for lies weigh heavier than metals.
When did we stop caring whether we mend or break? When did we give up on finding a way together? When did faith lose it’s place in our heart? When did we decide that the labour of love and oneness we once found should be in vain? Come let’s unmount the grudge that creeped up while we went to bed. The night is the darkest that houses our fears… For turbulence will always remain a fright even to the eyes of the heart.
The wave of the noise cuts sharp across the room. My thoughts are deeply enshrined in the memories of the laughter that fills the air. Beautiful moments of times gone by, flashes like lightning before my eyes and suddenly everywhere was quiet but my heart wouldn’t stop beating hard, just then I realised it was all in my dream.
(Good take from one of my most-respected historians. Certainly Nigeria was established as a business by the Brits.. However we should remember that that is how most countries were established, including Britain. Most even have it worse. Before we got to thisn age of enlightenment and cheap information, many people got away with many unspeakable things. I think it’s largely the fault of we the educated ones that we havent made much of our circumstances)
I have just finished reading a book What Britain Did To Nigeria by Max Siollun, who is an authority on issues that affects Nigeria. Mr Siollun has written several books on the country, including Soldiers of Fortune: Nigeria Politics from Buhari to Babangida and Nigeria’s Soldiers of Fortune: The Abacha and Obasanjo Years. Expectedly his latest book, What Britain Did To Nigeria is very educative and informative. The 390-page book is published by C. Hurst & Co.(Publishers) Ltd. One of the articles in the book, which caught my serious attention is, ‘The mistake of 1914.’ This article summarises what one should know about Nigeria on the amalgamation that took place in 1914. Mr Siollun declared that, “Perhaps no question makes Nigerians disagree as much as why Britain created their country. Nigerians looking for deeper meaning for their country’s existence may be disappointed to find that there was none. Nigeria’s existence is little more than the outcome of balancing the colonial accounting books. In 1900 Britain created two countries with similar-sounding names. These were the protectorates of Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria. For 14 years these two countries were separately governed by different high commissioners. Lugard was Britain’s first high commissioner for Northern Nigeria and Sir Ralph Moor was his counterpart in Southern Nigeria. The two colonies had different colonial personnel, legal systems, land tenure laws, educational policies and systems of governance. Their eventual amalgamation on 1 January 1914 was not sudden. It was the culmination of a process that, as we have seen, began 16 years earlier with the recommendation of the Niger Committee. Although Lugard is credited as being the architect of Nigeria’s amalgamation, the process started long before he became Northern Nigeria’s high commissioner or the governor-general of the combined Nigeria in 1914.
‘These jolly laughing trading black men’
Some British accounts of the differences between the people in the two Nigerians mentioned (with the usual poor anthropological insight of that era) that ‘the inhabitants of Northern Nigeria are very different from the coast Negroes [Southern Nigeria]’ and flippantly described Northerners as ‘black-faced Mohammedan Arabs with an admixture of negro strain’ and Southerners as ‘these jolly laughing trading black men’. Although this is a very simplistic summary, others offered a more realistic assessment. Sir George Goldie, who advocated the amalgamation of Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria, admitted that the two countries were ‘as widely separated government, customs, and general ideas about life, both world and the next, as England is from China’. Since Britain was aware of the sharp differences between the two Nigerias, why it decide to amalgamate them anyway?
Just as British entry into Nigeria was motivated by economic reasons, so was its amalgamation into one country. The duplication of finances and personnel in running two separate colonies in the same area was an impediment to administrative efficiency. The need for British colonies to be self-financing made amalgamation a priority. Since Northern Nigeria had no coastline and was landlocked, it did not receive customs duties, as Southern Nigeria did. This disadvantage was exacerbated because Northern Nigeria imported goods from Southern Nigeria, duty-free, and its costs for transporting its goods to Southern Nigeria for export were also high. Since Southern Nigeria received customs duties and Northern Nigeria did not, a small percentage of customs revenue from the former was sent to the latter. Yet this was not enough to offset Britain’s cost of administering Northern Nigeria. The area (Northern Nigeria) had been running on a budget deficit for ten years, during which time its revenue was not enough to meet even half its cost of administration. As a result, the British Treasury paid grants-in-aid to Northern Nigeria (totalling over £4 million) in the 14 years of its existence. These were non-refundable payments, rather than loans, and were in addition to the £865,000 that the Treasury paid to the Royal Niger Company as compensation for the revocation of its charter. Such dependency on the Treasury could not continue. Lugard tried to raise revenue by imposing taxation on Northern Nigeria but it was not enough. As early as 1904, he argued that: “Northern Nigeria is as yet largely dependent on a grant in aid… I feel myself that economy can only be effected by the realisation of Mr Chamberlain’s original scheme of amalgamating Northern and Southern Nigeria and Lagos into one single administration. It is only in this way that Northern Nigeria, which is the hinterland of the other two, can be properly developed, and economies introduced into the triple machinery which at present exists. The country, which is all one and indivisible, can thus be developed on identical lines, with a common trend of policy in all essential matters.”
‘The material prosperity had been extraordinary’
Lugard’s advocacy of amalgamation, ten years before it actually happened, was not surprising. As Northern Nigeria’s High Commissioner, he faced the problems of the colony’s dependency on grants from the Treasury and the need to find alternative revenue sources. Amalgamating the two Nigerias into one country would not only solve these problems for him, but carried with it a potential promotion, in that he would become the governor of the newly amalgamated country. For Lugard, the solution to his problems lay in Southern Nigeria. He observed: “Southern Nigeria, on the other hand, presented a picture which was in almost all points the exact converse of that in the north. Here the material prosperity had been extraordinary. The revenue had almost doubled itself in a period of five years. The surplus balance exceeded a million and a half. The trade of the interior had greatly developed by the construction of a splendid system of roads, and by the opening to navigation of waterways hitherto choked with vegetation… And so while Northern Nigeria was devoting itself building up a system of Native Administration and laboriously raising a revenue by direct taxation, Southern Nigeria had found itself engrossed in material development.
Before southern Nigerians pounce with glee (as they often do) about this evidence of northern economic dependency on the south, one must pause and reflect that amalgamation was a British decision, not a northern one. Northern Nigeria had no more say in amalgamation than Southern Nigeria did (and probably, if given a choice, would have objected to it). One of the north’s leaders did, after all, later refer to amalgamation as ‘the mistake of 1914’.
‘Effect an alliance with a Southern lady of means’
The economic disparity between the two Nigerias made their amalgamation inevitable. In a light-hearted after-dinner speech to the Colonial Service Club in 1913, the secretary of state for the colonies, Lord Lewis Harcourt, used a metaphor to describe the impending amalgamation: “We have released Northern Nigeria from the leading strings (of the) (British) Treasury. The promising and well-conducted youth allowance ‘on his own’ and is about to effect an alliance with a Southern lady of means. I have issued the special licence and Sir Frederick will perform the ceremony… May the union be and the couple constant!
‘An enthusiastic practicing paedophile’
In 1913, Lugard named the prominent south-eastern Nigeria city, Port Harcourt after Lord Harcourt. Details of a man’s personal life should not ordinarily occupy much space in a history book about two nations. However, the continued prominence of Harcourt’s name in contemporary Nigeria justifies an exception. Harcourt ostensibly led an ordinary family life. His wife was the wealthy American heiress, Mary Burns, who was a member of the Morgan banking family dynasty and the niece of the banker John Pierpont Morgan (founder of JP Morgan Bank). However, Harcourt (or ‘Loulou’, as he was known) ‘was an enthusiastic practising paedophile’, who abused both young boys and girls.
Owing to his status, Harcourt’s paedophilia was largely unknown to the public, and knowledge of it was restricted to the elite circles in which he moved. Harcourt abused the son and daughter of his friend Viscount Esher (Reginald Brett). Esher’s teenage daughter, Dorothy, was so traumatised after Harcourt tried to sexually assault her that she avoided romantic relationships with men for most of her adult life. Harcourt’s predilection for preying on children was so well known that boys at Eton School (where he was a fellow) were warned not to be alone with him.
TEXEM
Harcourt also tried to sexually assault a young boy named Edward James during a party at his country estate. The boy reported the assault to his mother, who mentioned it to others.
Harcourt was found dead early the next year after taking an overdose of sedatives.
The most extraordinary aspect of Nigeria’s amalgamation was how little thought the British colonial administrators gave to its long-term consequences. The architects of both the 1914 amalgamation and the Niger Committee’s report of 1898 had no guiding vision or objective. Not only did the colonial government fail to contemplate the north-south differences, but they paid little attention to how much British rule had amplified the pre-existing differences between the two regions. The introduction of Christian missionaries in the south had caused a revolutionary change to the region’s religious life and created a Western-educated cadre that was anxious for independence, while the north had little interest in rushing into a union with a southern region that was so radically different in religious and social ethos. British rule had also changed the north by introducing a Christian convert population into the region on the outskirts of the Muslim emirates. The British did not consider stabilising the country by dividing it into territorial units consistent with ethno-linguistic zones. In 1898, the Niger Committee had recommended dividing Southern Nigeria into eastern and western regions. Yet, for unspecified reasons, it did recommend a similar subdivision of Northern Nigeria. The colonial government belatedly carried out the Niger Committee’s recommendation when it split Southern Nigeria into the Western and Eastern Regions in 1939, yet it left Northern Nigeria intact and undivided. As a result, Northern Nigeria ended up than twice as large as the two southern regions combined. Creating a country where one region was geographically larger, and had more people, than all the other region became a constant point of contention.
The 1914 amalgamation and the fault lines between the north and south remain among the most contentious issues in modern Nigeria. More than 106 years after amalgamation, the wisdom of this step is still being debated in Nigeria, and the country continues to grapple with how to deal with the divisions between north and south and the mutual paranoia they often have about each other. The most spectacular eruptions of instability in Nigeria have emerged on a north-south basis: the military coups of 1966, the civil war of 1967-70, the annulment of the presidential election of June 12, 1993 and the ensuing political crisis it generated, and the crisis over Sharia law in the early 2000s. Each of these controversies has polarised the country along north-south lines. The civil war, which commenced after the south-east seceded, represented one of many attempts to repeal the 1914 amalgamation (the north also threatened secession in 1953 and 1966). It is perhaps unsurprising that conflict would arise in this manner. It was difficult to build patriotism and emotional loyalty to a country created by a foreign invader and inhabited by people whose prior loyalties had never extended beyond their family, village or kingdom.
The lack of British foresight regarding the enormous upheaval that amalgamation would cause is astonishing. For over twenty- five years prior to the merger, British administrators had year after year mentioned the massive cultural, political and religious differences between the north and south. Yet they insisted on amalgamation simply to fix an accounting problem. Even if amalgamation was a necessity for colonial administrative convenience, one wonders why it was not reversed or reconfigured when it became apparent that the unified Nigeria would one day become an independent self-governing country. With no overriding ideological principle behind Nigeria’s creation, it has been left to Nigeria’s post-colonial governments to find ways to rationalise the 1914 amalgamation. Nigeria’s territorial evolution has followed two opposing trends during its colonial and post-colonial eras. The colonial era was characterised by territorial amalgamation, and followed by the country’s fragmentation into smaller and smaller territorial units during the post-colonial era. Starting from 1967, post-independence Nigerian governments started unravelling Britain’s territorial consolidation by fracturing both the north and south into smaller states, which are currently 36 in number. It is to Nigeria’s credit that it has developed its own home-grown innovations to reduce tension between the north and south, such as an affirmative action quota system and the alternation of the presidency between northern and southern holders.
Perhaps it is pious to expect a colonial government to have contemplated the long-term consequences of its decisions on the people of the colony. As demonstrated again and again in prior chapters, the colonial government’s priority was not to create a new nation with a common ethos. The priority of Colonial Office officials was to minimize the financial burden to the British taxpayer, reduce bureaucratic duplication and maximise revenue. In that regard it succeeded from British perspective. In that regard it succeeded from Britain’s perspective. Nigeria was just a page in a colonial accounting ledger”.
Recent events in the Nigerian polity have thrown up decades-old questions about the marginalization of the South East from the main power centers of Nigeria. Several seismic movements in the polity have called into question the political dynamics of Nigeria vis-a-vis its disposition towards one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria.
The Igbo constitute the largest non-indigenous ethnic group in any given location in Nigeria. They are found in every nook and cranny of the diverse country, usually as businessmen and petty traders. This willingness to participate in the life of every geographical location of Nigeria is not matched by political participation at the highest level as the Igbo have not been given the opportunity to produce the President of Nigeria, a privilege which all other major ethnic groups have tasted. Rooted in this marginalization is the specter of the bitter Biafran Civil War.
Following a military coup in 1966 and the anti-Igbo pogroms which attended it, the Igbo were forced to flee to their South Eastern region and declared an independent state of in 1967. A brutal Civil War followed at which nearly 3m Igbos and other ethnicities were killed.
The events of 1967 to 1970 remain an unhealed and unhealthy scar on the body polity of Nigeria. This was demonstrated recently at a gathering of Igbo leaders and captains of industry on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Called the ‘Never Again Conference, they voiced out deep concerns about the persistent marginalization of Ndi Igbo from the centers of political power in Nigeria.
In spite of the wide and deep integration of the Igbo into Nigeria’s business and cultural fabric, there has never been an acceptance of the Igbo into the political leadership of the country, especially at the very highest levels.
Nigeria’s Head of State during that war, Yakubu Gowon, acknowledges this shut out of the Igbo. In a recent documentary, he said, “unfortunately after the change of government, with the programs we had which was going to allow them (Igbos) to be equal in all respects, unfortunately those that came after us did not have the vision that my government had in order to ensure fairness to every part of Nigeria.”
The complete integration of the Igbo into Nigeria’s mainstream politics at the highest level has only been achieved up to the point of producing the Vice President, Alex Ekwueme between 1979 and 1983. Beyond that, the wall of exclusion of Igbos has been rigid and sometimes, bigoted. This has led to several calls against this marginalization of a highly productive and diligent ethnic group which make up,one of the tripod of major ethnic groups in Nigeria.
In his own opinion, Nigeria needs to reach beyond the psychological and offer Ndi Igbo a genuine reintegration. In his own opinion, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, Past President Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN) and a Civil War veteran says this is very important to prevent a recurrence of the past. He said, “It is important for government today to look into the sociological integration Igbos into Nigeria because the causes of that civil war are still happening today.”
Other analysts say this sociological integration can only be complete when Nigerians entrust the leadership of the country into the hands of a President of South Eastern extraction. They think Gowon’s Three Rs of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reintegration would be fulfilled at such an event.
However, the political route to Nigeria’s Presidency has been made tortuous by the country’s power structure. Since return to civil rule in 1999, Alex Ekwueme, second republic Vice President lost the PDP presidential ticket to Olusegun Obasanjo who was just out of Abacha’s gulag. Being content with the Senate Presidency, no other South Easterner has achieved higher office, a situation which politicians from the region and others have claimed questioned the citizenship of the Igbo in Nigeria.
The activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra, an Igbo secessionist group, have raised deeper question into the Igbo citizenship in Nigeria. Querying the marginalization of Ndi Igbo, the group seeks a referendum to determine the Biafra question once for all. However, their activities were declared illegal, the group proscribed and their leader Nnamdi Kanu incarcerated. Released on bail, he fled the country after an attack by the Nigeria Army killed several IPOB members at his Umuahia home.
The rearrest last week of Nnamdi Kanu brought a sudden swerve to his running tirade against the Nigerian State. The loud demands for a referendum to determine the Biafran Question has been at the forefront a gathering groundswell of discontent in the South East. This discontent has as its major catalyst, the perceived psychological support of the Buhari Administration to Fulani herdsmen in the region. The insecurity created by the attacks and killings of Ndi Igbo by these Fulani herdsmen has generated deep feelings of distrust for the FG among the Igbo. IPOB, using the mounting insecurity as a call to arms, established the Eastern Security Network (ESN) for the defence of Igboland. The Nigeria Police Force has however, accused the ESN of attacks on Police formations, Correctional services and other security installations which have cost dozens of lives of security agents across the South East and the South South. Dubbed ‘Unknown Gunmen’ (UGM) by social media , the Imo state Police command alone lost at least 21 officers in four months.
These attacks further strained relations between the region and other geopolitical regions. The North especially felt threatened as the attacks became reminiscent of the events that led to the Civil War.
The Igbos, however, through their leaders, reaffirmed their commitment to one united Nigeria under a platform of justice, equality of rights, fairness, love and respect. Chairman South-East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi, who read the resolutions of the leaders in June assured all Nigerians living in the South-East region that they had no reason to fear or leave the region. They denounced IPOB’s secessionist aims and insisted on the promotion of equity among constituent groups in Nigeria. Furthermore, they demanded a restructuring of the polity to grant greater autonomy to the constituent groups.
The Igbos are making a case for one from the region to be given a fair shot at the Presidency. Leading Igbo sociocultural organization, Ohaneze Ndigbo has repeatedly made pitches for somebody of South Eastern extraction to become President of Nigeria. The group has called for the support of other regions to actualize this. Across the major political parties, Igbo politicians have begun the networking imperative to the realization of this objective.
However, political watchers say one of the major challenge to the Igbo ambition is that the political acceptance of the ruling party is thinly spread in the South East. Out of the five states in the region, only two are held by the ruling APC, and both by default. Of the other three states, one is held by All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and the other two by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. How far the region will go in consolidating its political structures and forming the necessary alliances will depend on several factors. First, the willingness of the people in the region and elsewhere to come out to vote bearing in mind very low interest in elections among the people. Second, the harnessing of the huge number of Ndi Igbo who live outside the South East and converting same numbers into votes. Third, the willingness of other regions to collaborate with Ndi Igbo to actualize the Presidency and fourth, the sustenance of peace and security in the country as it grinds towards 2023.
The battle of staying afloat in the trvails of life is one that never ends.. the beauty isn’t in the winning but in our ability to stay calm even when everything seems out of hand. Most of us believe strongly in the celebration of the outcome known as testimony but I believe in the determination plus perseverance, the only real reasons we eventually have testimonies.
Today, I shared my thoughts with one of my beautiful sisters about the struggles of life and how it can be overwhelming sometimes, especially when one’s health is the challenge. Life isn’t a bed of roses as it is popularly said, which is absolutely true . . . We agreed that it is a difficult position for our test of faith, when everything and most especially your health seems to be against you yet you resolve to be unshaken, unrattled by the uncertainty of those times.
Faith is one frail intangible tread that holds us together when our whole world seems to be falling apart. Faith gives the heart the enablement, call it courage if you like, to push ahead with life even when there seems to be no vision of a way out. Many people get broken to the point that they become suicidal in their thoughts because at some point, they gave up on faith or would I rather say that their faith failed them? Whatever the situation may be, may we always remember that there can be no testimonies without battles, neither can there be any victory over the battles without faith. Faith was the only reason David came against Goliath. Many situations before some of us today are just as giant as was the man called goliath before David. . . If David had given up on faith because of the size of the mountainous problem before him called goliath, there’s no way his story would have become a reference point today in my thoughts.
There is a grace given only to those who irrespective of their life challenges can make an extra effort to keep or see others happy by being happy themselves and this they do by just smiling through with their problems and by so doing, they give hope to others even when all around them is screaming hopelessness. Faith is one major everyday secret ingredient that everyone must try to have in their corner as far as surviving life and all the battles it might bring our way is concerned.
In the battles of life, survivors are never without scars, those scars my sister called the SCARS OF FAITH. It means that for you not to have given up in the face of whatever it was, for you not to have lost your essence, your humanity, dignity or sense of purpose, for you not to have compromised in your self values, morals or character, beliefs and so on, you must have paid a very heavy price mentally, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, physically and othewise and the truth is that, that kind of price is definitely never without a scar. This scar reminds us each time of our faith in hopeless situations just like the one a lot of us are going through right now because of hardships, insecurities, unemployment, family issues, childless marriages, relationship problems, bereavement, the list is seamless but the beauty will always be in our ability to stay calm, hopeful and faithful to our faith, knowing that no situation or problem lasts forever. Remember who we are will never be determined by our problems but by how we managed ourselves in the face of our problems.
