The most discussed subject in Nigeria today is what is called “restructuring” and indeed so popular is this subject that it has attracted the attention of roadside commentators, the bright, the not-so-bright, the mischievous and the outrightly unintelligent all united by the singular claim that Nigeria belongs to all of us and we all have a right to determine its future.  

The last person who brought up this subject with me is a mechanic in Abeokuta! He had heard about Biafra, the Arewa youths, the President’s absence, Professor Osinbajo, Nnamdi Kanu, what Igbo leaders, Northern leaders and Yoruba leaders have said about restructuring and he wanted a conversation. That’s how democracy works, not so?  The inclusiveness is actually very good for us…

But the point I have always made stands proven: that Nigeria remains an unanswered question, more than a century after the amalgamation of 1914. Before and after independence, virtually every government has had to deal with this same question, viz, the national question. 

Brought together in an unwieldy, unequal and uneven union by the British, Nigeria’s about 400 ethnic nationalities have been unable to transform into one nation, one union, a community of people and communities driven by a common purpose - to create a united, progressive nation, under the umbrella of patriotism and the common good.  

We have fought each other since 1950 to date, we did not even all agree on independence, and since that happened, we have been at each other’s throats. We ended up fighting a civil war, and from all indications we are at this moment, seemingly preparing for another one. 

The laziest excuse is that the British caused all our problems, but more than 50 years after independence it should be clear enough that we are the source of our collective agony. 

Other countries that were at the same level with us in 1960 have since moved on and developed into better nations despite their own internal contradictions. Nigerian leaders have perpetually lived in denial. Every step forward has resulted in our country taking two steps backwards. 

A combination of the big-man-syndrome, the too-know syndrome, the us-before-others-mentality, ethnic politics, sectarian politics, greed, cronyism and a terrible leadership recruitment process has turned our process of nationhood into an unending struggle. Today, fewer Nigerians believe in the idea of Nigeria.

In 1977/78, the Constituent Assembly whose deliberations resulted in the 1979 Constitution almost ended with fisticuffs. The 2005 National Political Reforms  Conference did not fare better either, as the Niger Delta conferees staged a walk-out and the politics of Third Term or no Third Term sabotaged the entire process. In 2014, the outcomes of yet another National Conference could not be followed through because a succeeding administration declared it would not even look at the report.  

At every stage when it looks as if this country is faced with an opportunity to address the national question, certain interest groups erect the roadblocks of denial and wishful thinking. No country can live perpetually in denial.  This is the message of former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union and their disintegration. As for the military, they merely worsened Nigerian politics.

Fifty years after the outbreak of the civil war, we now have a man called Nnamdi Kanu. He may well end up as Nigeria’s nemesis. He is the most frightening product of our many years and acts of denial and he may well throw the country into a nightmare worse than Boko Haram, if care is not taken. He started out as the leader of a group called the Indigenous People of Biafra and as director of Radio Biafra.  

He and those who bought into his rhetoric of secession and the renewal of the Biafra dream organized protests across the world, and they looked, from afar, like a group of disgruntled Nigerians in diaspora. 

In the foreign lands where most of the members lived, they looked like persons over-enjoying the freedom of speech from a safe distance. They didn’t appear to have the force of MASSOB, which is locally based and seemingly more malleable.  

The renewed struggle for Biafra that Kanu and his crowd talked about could have been nothing more than an internet and television revolution. But everything went wrong the moment Nnamdi Kanu chose to visit home and he was arrested, detained and taken through a court trial. 

Whoever ordered Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest and prosecution did this country a bad turn. Kanu is a character that could have been better ignored. His trial and travails have turned him into a hero and a living martyr among Igbos. And the young man so far, understands the game. Since he was released on bail, he has been taunting the Nigerian state and government. 

Daily, he dares those who granted him bail and he laughs at the conditions they gave him. He associates with more than 10 persons. He moves about Igboland freely, like a spirit. He addresses rallies and grants interviews.  He has been busy issuing statements. On May 30, he ordered a shut-down of the entire South Eastern region and that order was obeyed not only in the South East but also in parts of the South-South, and Abuja.    

Nnamdi Kanu who probably barely struggled to survive as a black man in Europe, has been turned by the Nigerian Government into a credible apostle of a resurgent Biafran revolution. The other day when he held a meeting in Umuahia, over 5,000 persons trooped to his compound. 

Kanu is a master of symbolism. He is exploiting the Jewish symbol: to signal to the world that Igbos are being persecuted. 

He visits symbolic sites of the civil war to prick the injured part of the Igbo consciousness and mobilise the people. His pre-eminence is a comment on the quality of the state and its strategic intelligence system. If he succeeds with his threats, we should know those to blame. 

A few days ago, someone on social media further compared him to Jesus Christ and described him as the true saviour. Every revolutionary in history graduates from ordinariness to being messianic, propelled by opiumized endorsement.

Nnamdi Kanu is certainly capable of doing more damage to the system than the MASSOB, OPC, and such other groups, and should he push things further, he could ignite a crisis worse than Boko Haram. 

My gut feeling is that some people in certain places are beginning to realize this and that is why Nnamdi Kanu out of detention appears untouchable; it is the reason he is able to dare the state, and ridicule his bail conditions. 

The lesson here is obvious enough: the brazen use of force and intimidation to deal with certain situations could create really bad unintended consequences.

The Federal Government under Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has been holding meetings with key stakeholders within the Federation. 

The consultations are in order, but the Acting President is yet to talk to the right people.  He is talking to people who carry their international passports in their pockets because they don’t know what tomorrow promises in Nigeria. He is consulting persons whose family members are mostly one-leg-in-one-leg-out Nigerians; many of them in fact have dual nationality. Nigeria is their trading post, the place where they make the money they and their children spend in Dubai, UK and wherever.

The people the Federal Government should be talking to are the angry Igbo youths who now kneel down to greet Nnamdi Kanu and call him their god, the Arewa youths who have told the Igbos to get out of Nigeria and get away, and who have called the Yoruba names while further insisting that they are not afraid of the Nigerian government arresting them. 

The people to talk to are the leaders of the various other groups who are taking sides. Leaders of the Middle Belt and the South South are holding talks; some Yorubas are planning to hold theirs this week in Ibadan. 

Draw the map of the emerging rhetoric in Nigeria today; what you have is a divided country. The scenario is so painfully reminiscent of the early 60s. Every Nigerian leader since the civil war has boasted that he would not preside over the dismemberment of Nigeria.

Some of those leaders have suddenly started saying restructuring is the answer, how nice!- the same restructuring they never wanted and that they didn’t want as at 2015.

Crisis management is an important part of nation-building. We have failed to manage most of the crises that have befallen our nation, on a sustainable basis, and that is why every proverbial snake that is killed suddenly resurrects. It is the reason we have produced a country where the population of the aggrieved appears to be growing daily.  

It is the reason Nnamdi Kanu and his followers have become the fish-bone in the throat of government.  As things stand, there is no stronger voice in Igboland today than that of Nnamdi Kanu. The Igbo elites and the self-styled political leaders of the East know that Kanu is more influential than all of them put together. How many among them can command a willing crowd of 5, 000 to their doorsteps? The politicians hire crowds, but the crowds go to Kanu and obey him.

With the kind of influence he wields, Kanu is in a position to dictate the political future of the South East. The same political leaders who posed for photographs at the Aso Villa will go to him at night and beg him to support their candidates if future elections hold in that region.  They will condemn Kanu during the day, but lick his boots at night.

The ancillary challenge however is the worsening trend of ethnic polarization with regards to the control of power at the centre. I describe this as the conflict between the na-my-brother-dey-there syndrome and the no-be-my-brother reactive tendency. It used to be the case in this country up till the time President Olusegun Obasanjo left in 2007, that whoever held power in Abuja was openly and strongly supported by other Nigerians, regardless of ethnicity or religion. 

Obasanjo got more support from outside Yorubaland, and probably felt more reassured by persons from outside his own ethnic group and religion.

With the death of President Yar’Adua in office, ethnicity, a long-standing threat to Nigerian unity became more potent. The Boko Haram, with its base in the Northern part of the country gave the succeeding Jonathan administration hell.  With the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, the same Boko Haram suddenly became tame. Curiously, the militants of the South East and the South South, who had been significantly quiet during the Jonathan years, also became more vocal and calls for secession became more strident the moment their kinsman and in-law left office. 

By the same token, the conflict between pastoralists and farmers, an old problem, became worse, with the former asserting themselves more arrogantly for no reason other than that they are sure of better protection under a central government controlled by the North. Our point: Nigeria’s stability should not be so dependent on the whims and caprices of ethnic gladiators. No Nigerian President should be at the mercy of ethnic or religious politics, now or in the future. 

The debate about restructuring and renegotiations is therefore useful and most relevant.  It is indeed urgent if we must take the wind out of the sail of the secessionists and nihilists. 

Those who have always blocked or hijacked the people’s conference must by now realize that we are close to “the point of no return” on a review and rephrasing of the Nigerian question, in order to make every Nigerian feel a part of the Nigerian project. The alternative in all possible shapes appears ominous.

The President of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has emerged the winner of the prestigious World Food Prize, 2017 award.

The award was announced Monday in Washington D.C. by the World Food Prize Foundation in recognition of Adesina’s achievements in the agriculture sector and for driving change in African agriculture for over 25 years and improving food security for millions across the continent.

The foundation said in a statement that Adesina stood out in efforts to make food available to Africans.

It said: “Awarded by the World Food Prize Foundation, the $250,000 prize honors Nigerian Dr. Adesina for his leading role over the past two decades in: significantly expanding food production in Nigeria; introducing initiatives to exponentially increase the availability of credit for smallholder farmers across the African continent; and galvanising the political will to transform African agriculture.

“The selection of President Akinwumi Adesina as the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate reflects both his breakthrough achievements as Minister of Agriculture of Nigeria and his critical role in the development of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

“It also gives further impetus to his profound vision for enhancing nutrition, uplifting smallholder farmers, and inspiring the next generation of Africans as they confront the challenges of the 21st century.”

President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, added that in making public Adesina’s name, the foundation took cognisance of the AFDB president’s role with the Rockefeller Foundation, which organised the 2006 Africa Fertiliser Summit; led a major expansion of commercial bank lending to farmers as Vice-President of AGRA; and, as Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria, introduced the E-Wallet system, which broke the back of corrupt elements that had controlled the fertiliser distribution system for 40 years.

“His policies expanded Nigeria’s food production by 21 million metric tonnes, and the country attracted $5.6 billion in private sector investments in agriculture – earning him the reputation as the ‘farmer’s minister’,” Quinn stated.

Commenting on the prestigious award in an interview with THISDAY Monday, Adesina said it was a privilege to have been recognised by the World Food Prize Foundation.

“It is a great honour for Nigeria where I come from; a great honour for Africa as well. But I think to me the most important part of it is what it really means for the future because I feel greatly inspired, I feel greatly motivated to go out and do even more in terms of making sure that for me I will not rest until Africa breaks out of hunger and can feed itself and also to see to the end of global hunger.

“For those two things I have actually dedicated my life, so I feel it’s for the greater end to accomplish those things,” the former minister added.

He expressed optimism about the future of Africa, saying sometimes the narrative on Africa was often in the wrong direction.

According to Adesina, “People think Africa is sinking, I don’t think Africa is sinking at all. I think Africa is making great progress; it’s just that it is difficult to end hunger.

“If you take for example the case on economic growth, Africa today is growing at roughly a projection of 3.4 per cent, which is above the 2.2 per cent from last year and next year we project that Africa’s GDP growth rate will be 4.3 per cent.

“Bear in mind that those growth rates are much higher than the global growth rate so Africa is doing well.

“It’s just that Africa needs to grow much faster than it is growing and I think obviously nobody eats GDP, so GDP is not professionally what really matters. However, growth is required if one is going to drive down poverty.”

Since 1987, the World Food Prize has been awarded annually to recognise contributions in any field involved in the world food supply: food and agriculture science and technology, manufacturing, marketing, nutrition, economics, poverty alleviation, political leadership, and the social sciences.

Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Norman Borlaug, the prize comes with a cash reward of $250,000 and emphasises the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people.

Borlaug saw the prize as a means of establishing role models who would inspire others.

ThisDay 

“Baba just fall my hand! Ha, wetin.”

“Which Baba?”

“Baba Bubu, the President of all Nigeria.”

“In the spirit of this season, may Almighty Allah (SAW) grant him good health and quick recovery. It is part of our duty to pray for our leaders. Only infidels pray for evil.”

“My friend, the fasting season has ended. Stop fasting after Ramadan. I am saying something serious. Was it right for the President of Nigeria to address the Nigerian people in Hausa? “

“Hausa? Me no hear am oh. Have they changed the country’s official language?”

“Yes. Hausa.”

“Baba just enter radio begin speak Hausa to over 400 Nigerian ethnic nationalities”

“In the spirit of this season, my brother, we must thank God for everything”

“You have started.”

“Do you know if there is a medical reason? Suppose Baba’s diagnosis is that he can only speak Hausa from now on, what if something has happened to his English language?  Impairment of the ability to speak English.”

“Are you okay? Some yeye people said Baba was suffering from speech impairment and that he would no longer be able to speak. They didn’t say anything affected his ability to speak English.”

“So, they organized a national broadcast in Hausa to convince us that the President of Nigeria can still speak. But by making him speak Hausa, they simply confirmed the speech impairment. They have just told us that the President can no longer speak the country’s official language.”  

“So?”

“No. Well, I don’t think so. Hausa is actually an official language of Nigeria.”

“You have started. I say you have started. Even one of their aides said the whole thing could have been handled better.”

“I don’t believe that”

“That’s what I heard”

“He didn’t know his boss was going to speak Hausa?”

“Dey there.”

“But no problem. Section 55 of the Nigerian Constitution actually says when the business of Nigeria cannot be conducted in English, you can speak three other languages: Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.”

“The Constitution of Nigeria says that? I don’t believe that.”

“Yes, you don’t ever believe anything.”

“Does it also say that when a President is on medical vacation abroad, he can choose to address Nigerians in his mother tongue?”

“The thing is you never know. Some illnesses manifest in certain ways.  There is a way you will feel sick, and the best way out is to speak in vernacular. We as Nigerians should show some understanding. Some people will fall sick now and they will do strange and unique things. That is the way I see it.”

“I hope the day will never come when a Nigerian President will speak Igbo on my television set. I swear, I will carry that TV set and smash it on the ground.”    

“You see your problem? Are you saying Igbo is not a constitutionally recognized Nigerian language? You are an Igbo-hater, you this guy. One of those people Nnamdi Kanu refers to as idiots. So, if tomorrow a Nigerian leader decides to speak Fulfulde, what will you do? You will hang yourself? ”

“I have said my own.”

“You have not said anything. If language is your problem, then ask your ngbati brother in the Villa, to also start speaking Yoruba at Federal Executive meetings and other state functions. If he likes, let him speak Ijebu-Remo dialect. It is, I keep telling you, constitutional.”  

“What are we running then? Some kind of linguistic zoo where anyone that gets to Aso Rock can speak in tongues?”

“Not in tongues. Three languages. Hausa, Yoruba and Hausa. And for your information, someone that I know once said that there is a spiritual side to that seat of power. You can’t ever predict how the spirit moves people in that place. We should just thank God for everything. We are talking about change. When you vote for change, you don’t know how God will change things. Our God works in mysterious ways. He speaks all languages, and he can do his miracles in any language he chooses.”

“But I don’t speak Hausa.”

“There is actually a transcript of the Presidential message. It is nothing harmful in any way.”

“After almost 50 days of absence?”

“Medical vacation. Try and be humane, this man.”  

“Hausa language? At a time Hausa youths are telling Igbos to get lost and get out of Nigeria.”

“Don’t worry. We should just keep praying to God.”

“This is not about God. This is about us. Why will my President speak to me in a language that I don’t understand?”

“Everything is about God. Go and sit down and stop forming. Is English your language? Do you understand English? You are better off learning Hausa, if I may say so. See as you are losing sweat over the President speaking a constitutionally recognized Nigerian language”

“What of my own language, my own mother tongue? Is it also in the Nigerian constitution? This is about my identity, my Nigerian-ness, my sense of belonging. You don’t get it.”

“I get it. I say stop forming. If your language is not there, then your local government must be there. That is what you need, afterall, it is not everybody in your clan that speaks English”

“We don’t speak Hausa either, and I am sure that I have the right to ask that I should be addressed in a language that I understand as a bona-fide Nigerian citizen.”

“It’s okay. This is not a big deal. I’ll get you a transcript of what the President said.”

“In my local Ejagham language, with a broadcast in my people’s voice.”

“This man, what is your problem? It is people like you who want to break up Nigeria. How many of you are in that your Ejagham village sef, that you are making wahala like this?”

“Why must the President speak sef? The acting President has been speaking English to various groups in Nigeria. I was in fact hoping that he will get round to some of us and invite us to Aso Villa, and now from nowhere, the President releases a message that makes nonsense of the Acting President’s efforts at promoting unity in the country.”

“The Acting President is what Yoruba people call Adele, get it right, he cannot be the Baale, the village head, when the village head is alive. Adele is Adele. Baale is Baale.”

“We don’t have such a stupid saying in my village.  Good for you Yoruba people who speak from all sides of the mouth. You will see the truth korokoro like this, you will start speaking from all sides of the mouth.”

“Why korokoro?”

“ I speak small Yoruba.”

“I will ask Senator Musiliu Obanikoro then to sue you for using that phrase koro koro. This one that everybody is likely to start speaking in mother tongue, you better watch what you say. Stick to your own mother tongue.”

“Isn’t that what some people want in any case? They want to turn our country into a Tower of Babel. Let everybody speak his or her mother tongue.”

“Your interpretation. Whatever language the President speaks, should not be a problem.”

“Fine. Donald Trump should also start speaking German then since his ancestors are from Germany, and the Windsors in England should start speaking French.”

“It is not the same thing. We are dealing with a peculiar situation here. What if the President is going through a special kind of therapy? New things are being discovered in the field of medicine everyday.  This may be one of those cutting edge things. In the spirit of the season, you and other Nigerians should just chill.”

“You are just talking. I think at some point, we just have to restructure this country and get certain things right. There is something called protocol in governance.”    

“I am not against restructuring, but restructuring for me is not about secession, break up or hate speech. Restructuring means making this country work for all of us, a country of great potentials where the aggregate of our country, resources, people, talents and diversity can put us on the world map. We are a blessed country. We just have to get things right, yes.”

“We do well as individuals, take Evans, the kidnapper, but not as a country because we are not yet a nation.”

“You can’t say some people are doing well like Evans. We can’t define our country with negativity. Evans is a kidnapper who made millions of dollars from making other people unhappy. We are a country in search of good role models and standards. By the way, Evans’ father says he needs to be taken to a spiritual home for deliverance, but I think he should have his day in court.”

“The truth is that we are actually a country of kidnappers. Right now, I feel as if I have been kidnapped in this country of my birth. They told me change begins with me, but I actually feel as if I have been kidnapped.”

“My friend, stop that drama. Don’t be a drama king. Be a positive citizen. Your mates are winning  international prizes and doing well on the international stage, promoting Nigeria and Africa, you are here whining about village issues, my friend, you got to wake up. This is what we mean when we say change begins with you.”

“Which of my mates has won international prize?”

“Akinwumi Adesina, President of the Africa Development Bank, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture. Something big. Really big. The Nobel Prize of Agriculture.”

“Nobel Prize?”

“It is called the World Food Prize. It is the biggest thing in Agriculture.”

“Adesina. He did it as Minister of Agriculture. He has done it again globally. Up school!”

“Hel--looo. What is that?”

“Up school! Great of the greatest Ife! Ife gbogbo! Ife gbagba! Gre-at Ife!”

“You see yourself? You just must reduce everything to the level of the village and yet you complain about someone else speaking a local language.”

“Adesina is a product of the University of Ife, Obafemi Awolowo University.”

“Sorry, the World Food Prize is not about the university that you and Adesina attended, it is something bigger, it is about his accomplishments in promoting food security and by extension global security, his life-long distinction in the field of agriculture.”

“What I am saying is that this is Great Ife’s achievement.”

“It’s an achievement for Nigeria, for Africa, for the world. The security of the world is tied to the security of food. The point is clear: if the people of the world are hungry, the world cannot be safe.”        

“Correct point, there. When I am hungry, I cannot guarantee that I will be a good person.”

“I hope you have eaten today.”

“It has been a very dry Sallah, my brother.  I visited a friend of mine who usually slaughters a cow at a season like this. The man, this year had only fish, chicken and turkey. For a moment, I thought it was Christmas.”

“May be you are mixing up things. Muslims don’t usually slaughter rams after Ramadan. They do so during the main Sallah, the eid-el-kabir.”

“My own Muslim friends slaughter rams and cows all the time, but I see that this year, things are different, very very different. Recession palaver, I think.”

“You too should learn to give your friends rams and cows, instead of going from house to house to eat free meat, so stop complaining my friend.”

“Am I a Muslim? When it is Christmas, you can come to my house to eat turkey and chicken”

“We are all children of God, indivisible under the umbrella of God, that is all that matters.”

“I hope some people know that in the spirit of the season. I wish they knew.”

Fifty years after the civil war ended, Igbos do not yet feel a sense of belonging, acceptance or safety in the Federation called Nigeria. The sad part is that this belief is shared not just by the generation that witnessed the war and its deadly consequences, but Igbos across all generations, including the millennials who have been socialized into believing that there is a gap between their people and other Nigerians.

Let us not deceive ourselves about certain plain truths. The civil war is perhaps the most remarkable incident in Igbo history in the last century.  The pain, the loss, all about it, is deeply imprinted in the Igbo consciousness.  Whereas the Igbo nation has shown great resourcefulness since the war, and its people have proven to be enterprising and determined to hold their own in every sphere of life, including outstanding contributions to the making of the Nigerian state, there are Nigerians who still regard and treat the Igbo suspiciously.

Anti-Igbo sentiment may not be so openly expressed, but it is usually something beneath the surface.  There are landlords in many parts of Nigeria, for example, who will never rent out their property to an Igbo man. The Igbo tenant is easily stigmatized. I have heard people complain that Igbo tenants are too stubborn or that when you rent a room to an Igbo man, he will end up sub-letting that one room to all kinds of persons from his village, putting pressure on the property’s limited facilities.

Some landlords insist that an Igbo tenant could even start eyeing the property, to buy it off the landlord, or if it is a shop, the Igbo trader would end up renting the entire street, and could turn the street into an Igbo neigbourhood. This stigma has been a source of agony for many Igbos seeking accommodation, particularly in Lagos, but it is of course completely baseless stereotyping. There are good and bad persons from virtually every Nigerian ethnic group.

The stereotyping of the Igbo person can also be found in the political arena. It is assumed by some persons, and such statements have been made to my hearing, that the only reason an Igbo man cannot be President of Nigeria is because every Igbo man sees himself as a potential President, and should the Presidency be zoned to the South East, the struggle for the ticket could result in inter-community strife in Igboland. The name of the group is Igbo, but when other Nigerians want to be mischievous, or perhaps out of ignorance, they refer to Igbos as Ibo, and when you try to correct them, they may insist you don’t seem to understand. It is I-Before-Others (IBO).

Igbos have also been held responsible for all sorts of things, kidnapping, drug trafficking, child trafficking, armed robbery – even when there are criminals from virtually every community in Nigeria. Meanwhile, they are one of the most vertically educated ethnic groups in Nigeria, and the most enterprising in all fields.  A friend once said that if you enter any community in Nigeria and you don’t have an Igbo man running a small shop there, or engaged in some other kind of business, then you have no business staying in that community.  Igbos are also obviously the most integrated ethnic group in Nigeria, which is why it is ironic that they are also the most vilified.

I wrote what I considered a harmless piece recently in which I referred to the declaration of Biafra in 1967 and quoted excerpts from the Ahiara Declaration.  I got a phone call from a friend who declared that I should stop encouraging these “Biafrans”. Nothing I said made sense to him.

“You don’t know those people”, he declared.

“I know people from all parts of Nigeria,” I said.

“You don’t know Igbos. Has there been any problem in this country that you know in which Igbos have not been involved? They have started again, heating up the polity with threats of secession.”

“It is a sign that all is not well with Nigeria,”  I retorted.

“Don’t mind them. I don’t think anybody wants to secede. If Igbos really want to secede, you think it is Nnamdi Kanu that will be speaking for them?”

“It takes just one illuminated soul to start a revolution.”

“Don’t bring that line. Everything is not textbook, this man. Just tell those Igbos not to include my people in whatever they are looking for. We are their neighbours. They dragged us into the civil war. This time around, they’ve gone to draw a map, including my people. Biafra does not extend to the South-South. We are just looking at them.”

“Biafra is an idea.”

“I don’t want to hear all these textbook things, I have told you. Which idea? See, most Nigerians do not support Biafra. They think Igbos are just playing games. I’ll send you some other articles written by other Nigerians and you’d see what I am talking about. People are angry that anybody will be talking about secession in 2017! Nigerians are fed up with Igbos and their games. President Jonathan gave them everything but on election day, many of them stayed at home and refused to vote. Now, they are talking secession.”

“But Yorubas are also talking about Oduduwa Republic.”

“The Yoruba are not going anywhere. What they want is restructuring, fiscal federalism. Which Oduduwa Republic?”

“The people of the Middle Belt are also aggrieved.”

“Anybody can be aggrieved. You can’t please Nigerians. And some of these things are political. Obasanjo became President, Niger Delta carried arms; Jonathan got there, Boko Haram kidnapped children, Buhari is there now, and all the ghosts of Biafra are frightening everybody. But these Igbos, tell them they are not going anywhere.”

“I am surprised you are talking like this.”

“What is the matter with those people? They are all over Nigeria. They are even selling land in Lagos. But no outsider is allowed to buy half a plot of land in Igboland. You carry Igbo girl sef, na problem. Go and check your email. I will send you other perspectives on this matter.”

Before long, I received a mail indeed. The fellow had put together a collection of anti-Biafra, anti-Igbo articles which he urged me to read, with the rider that I should pay particular attention to the fact that some of those articles were written by Igbos. I ignored the rider. Some of those articles could have been ghost written. What is clear, however, is that all is not well with Nigeria. We are a country that needs to be rescued from the centripetal forces tearing us apart, and the leading forces today would include, as was the case before now, ethnicity, religion, the politics of hate, and citizen alienation. 

If my review of the stereotyping of Igbos in Nigeria and the reported conversation with an Igbo-hater does not fully convey the seriousness of this situation, then the June 6 ultimatum issued to all Igbos living in Northern Nigeria by a coalition of Northern Arewa youth groups should.

A group called the Northern Emancipation Network, comprising 16 Arewa youth groups, has asked all Igbos living anywhere in Northern Nigeria to pack their bags and baggage and be out of the Northern region by October 1, 2017. When the 19 Northern Governors met and dismissed the threat as misguided, the young Arewa Igbo-haters issued a riposte and more or less asked the Governors to shut up. Their message is that since Igbos no longer want to be part of Nigeria, they should get out, because they, Arewa youths, do not want belong to the same political union with Igbos. They are angry that on May 30, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous Peoples Organization of Biafra (IPOB) succeeded in shutting down a part of Nigeria to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra.

The arrogance of the Northern youths is insufferable.  It speaks to virtually everything that other Nigerians are uncomfortable with about the Fulani North: a born-to-rule, hegemonic tendency.  It is an assault on the Nigerian Constitution, to the extent that the Constitution does not grant any individual or group, the right or the power to determine where any Nigerian may live or work or die or acquire property.  All Nigerians are equal before the law. The Northern youths, who do not think so, held a meeting, a press conference, and issued statements.  The Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai asked the Nigeria Police to arrest them for promoting ethnic hatred. The only response we have had from the Police Headquarters so far, is from one Jimoh Moshood, described as Police Spokesman telling Nigerians that the Arewa youths “are not sitting in the market waiting to be picked up.”

Moshood, if you actually said that, then you should be relieved of your position forthwith. If you are a spokesperson and you have nothing intelligent to say, the best option is to remain silent, otherwise whatever you say will be used against you in the court of public opinion. So, the Nigeria police only arrest people when they go to the market and wait to be arrested? Is that the new police that we now have? The Northern Emancipation Network called Igbos all kinds of names – “unruly, reckless, insatiable, uncultured, confrontational, ungrateful” - and since they issued their ultimatum, the polity has been heated up, ethnic hate has been promoted, the Igbos of Nigeria have been further alienated.

This was how the civil war of 1967-70 started. Nigeria cannot afford another civil war. No country survives two civil wars. Already, Igbos in the North are reportedly relocating back to the South East or elsewhere in Nigeria. Young Nigerians from the North, the East and the South started the civil war. The politics of ethnicity and the rhetoric of hate ignited the fire that consumed the nation for three years. The scars have not healed because 50 years later, the youths of the North and the East are again lighting up the fire of hate.  On June 6, the Northern Emancipation Network also asked Northerners in the East, I hope this includes the peripatetic herdsmen, to return to the North!

The Nigerian Government must take this on-going febrile conversation between the North and the East more seriously than it appears to be doing. The security agencies do not have to go to the markets to look for what is not there. When there is a threat to the state, it is their duty to identify the threat and act on it. All persons who are working hard and making provocative statements to cause a national crisis should be monitored and checkmated. With all the difficult challenges facing this country, at this moment, our security alert system should be pushed a notch higher.

If the security agencies fail to act, particularly on the matter of the coalition of Northern youths promoting Igbo hatred, the Federal Government would have committed a grievous sin, likely to be interpreted as aiding and abetting. And there would be persons who will legitimately ask: are we confronted with a hand of Jacob and voice of Esau situation? Who is sponsoring the Arewa youths? Who granted them the permission to use the platform of Arewa House to spew anti-Igbo hate speech? Who is blocking their arrest by the security agencies? What those boys have done is even worse than the threat of secession by Nnamdi Kanu and his supporters.

But the message is clear: Nigeria is not yet a nation. A country where any group or association can threaten to expel another group is not yet a nation. The common enemy is not the secessionists. The common enemies are the political leaders, the tribal demagogues, the political opportunists, the religious bigots, the paid shamanists, who continue to manipulate Nigeria’s destiny to suit their own purposes.  There can be no country except the people love the nation and the state.  

“How is it going my _brother?"

“We just dey look. Two years and we thank God.”

“How was your May 29?”  

“There was no celebration. We just siddon dey look.”

“But the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo addressed the nation.”

“I know. I know. But there was no programme in place for celebrating two years of the Buhari government. In the past, we used to have a week-long programme, with military parades, prayers here and there and then a national broadcast to remind the people of how democratic rule has been so fruitful and kind.” 

“There was a national broadcast."

“I saw that. The Acting President spoke about optimism, building confidence, and reassuring the people. It was as if the country was mourning.”

“How do you expect them to celebrate when the Commander-in-Chief is out of the country?”

“But there is an Acting Commander-in-Chief”

“Are you sure Professor Osinbajo is actually an Acting Commander-in-Chief or a co-ordinator? There can only be one Commander-in-Chief at a time. There were two flags behind the Acting President, instead of four. His ADC is a policeman not a soldier. When he conducts council meetings, he doesn’t use the Commander-in-Chief’s seat.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“But what is your assessment? The cloud has settled, we can now think more clearly.”  

“What I hear is that the position of the Federal Government is that it is too early to assess the Buhari government. Femi, our friend and brother says it would not be fair to assess an administration that has a four-year tenure after two years.”

“He is probably right. May be it is better to assess the administration in 10 years time.”

“What are you saying?”

“History has a way of offering better views. Nigerians are always impatient. They don’t appreciate the good vision that history offers.”

“History. History.  When the administration reached 100 days, they said we could not assess it. They said it was too early. When they got to six months, they told us to wait. One-year anniversary, we were again told to exercise patience. It is now two years, and we are told any kind of assessment will be premature. How many years does it take to prepare the grounds for madness?"

“By madness, I suppose you mean performance.”

“I assume you are educated.”

“Don’t insult me. I am not in government.”

“Then don’t sound like you are dumb, my friend.”

“I am not dumb. I am smart. After all, am I the person that said President Buhari does not owe Nigerians anything?”  

“Someone said that?”

“Yes. One Presidential aide insisted that Nigerians should stop expecting this and that, because it is not the business of government.”

“I see. I see.”

“You keep saying I see, I see. Are you sure you don’t need to change your eye-glasses?”

“I have just remembered a story I read in which a group called SBM Intelligence reported that the Buhari administration has only achieved after 2 years, 4 per cent of its campaign promises since it assumed power.”  

“SBM Intelligence. You better find out who owns it and who is behind it. What if SBM Intelligence is owned by the PDP or some marabouts who have upgraded their game?”

“They sounded professional to me.”

”I don’t know about that.”

“But what about Richard Quest, the CNN Correspondent who visited Nigeria recently? He also had something to say about our democracy.”

“What about him? “

“He reported that since the CNN visited Nigeria for the Presidential inauguration two years ago, the only achievement by the Nigerian government has been the repair of the Abuja airport runway.”

“He said that?”

“Yes”

“Well, what does Richard Quest actually know about Nigeria. He came here to eat jollof rice with Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Jollof rice has a way of inducing you to get carried away and when you get carried away, you say all kinds of things.”

“But can you really blame him?”

“No. I blame jollof rice. Why would he reduce everything to Abuja airport runway? This government in two years has reduced Boko Haram to nothing. This is the government that seized the very essence of Boko Haram and Ibrahim Shekau.”

“The very essence of Boko Haram? I am not aware that the Federal Government captured Shekau’s wife.”

“This government captured the Boko Haram flag and Shekau’s Quoran. That is a monumental achievement. What is Shekau without his flag and his Quoran? Richard Quest is talking. Not even his own country America can claim to have captured the ISIS flag. When Nigeria does something, let us say so. I beg.”

“I just hope they are not keeping that flag and the Quoran in the Villa.”

“They can keep them wherever they like. Once Shekau’s essence was captured, the girls were bound to come out. Over 100 of them did.”

“I know.”

“What I even want to suggest is that Sambisa Forest should be turned into a legacy site. Something like the establishment of the University of Sambisa Forest, for girls only, to help us remember the battle that was fought in that forest.”

“Sambisa is about 60, 000 sq. kms covering six states.”

“I don’t see how that is a problem. Sambisa can be converted from a theatre of agony into a major educational theatre, given the nature of its story.”

“I don’t get it.”

“We need to prove that Boko is not Haram.”

“You think that is why it is too early to assess, and that change begins with us, or that they owe us nothing?”  

“Of course they owe us something. Whoever said they don’t is either high on something or stupid.”

“They owe us electricity, for example?”

“Yes”

“But the Senate says the government can’t give us electricity. That is a major problem for the economy.”

“Clearly, the Senate doesn’t fully understand how the economy has worked in the past two years.”

“How?”

“The economy has been diversified, I can tell you that for a fact.”

“I have been hearing that, government to government, over the years.”

“But there is something different, this time.”

“Hear. Hear.”

“For the first time in Nigerian history, we have just been reminded of how lucrative grass cutting can be. You can become an instant multi-millionaire by cutting grass.”

“Grass-cutting!”

“Yes. You can also become stupendously rich by rearing snakes."

“Snakes?”

“Yes. Persons in this government have shown us how to diversify sources of revenue, so it is not just diversification of the economy, the new model is about the diversification of revenue.”

“But they say government can’t pay salaries and that they intend to borrow?”

“Don’t worry. It’s because the new model is yet to take root. In ten years’ time when you review the administration, you’d understand better.”

“Ten years.”

“Yes. Nigerians should learn to be patient. That is how change begins with you.”  

“This change is beginning to look strange.”

“If it is, then by now, you’d be dead. You have to be grateful.”

“How?”

“Many jobs are being created. In Benue state for example, the Governor has distributed wheel-barrows as dividends of democracy and as a means of alleviating poverty.”

“Wheel-barrows? The Governor wants to turn his people into pushers of wheel-barrows in the 21st Century?”  

“My brother, he even put his name on the wheel barrows.”

“I don’t see how that is okay. David Mark complained that Samuel Ortom should not reduce Benue state to a state of wheel barrow pushers."

“David Mark is just being jealous. We are talking economic transformation. A Federal Minister has also said that Nigeria will soon be self-sufficient in the production of pencils and toothpicks.”  

“Pencils and toothpicks?”

“By 2019, of course. Something big."

“And if not, I guess that particular Minister will also resign like his other colleague in the Petroleum Ministry who says if we do not have enough petrol supply by 2019, he will just resign.”

“Don’t worry. Nobody resigns in Nigeria. You’d resign and miss the opportunity for grass-cutters? Commot-mouth-for-matter! I know at least one Minister who is already delivering ahead of schedule, though”

“And who may that be?”

“The Minister of Information. He said government was going to create many jobs through the promotion of masks and masquerades.”

“Masquerades”

“He delivered. During the Eyo Festival to mark the 50th Anniversary of Lagos State, many masquerades took over the streets. Solid diversification.”

“You have not heard of the violence that erupted, the rains that fell and the clash with the police.”

“There will always be occupational hazards. Think in terms of the jobs that were created.”

“You have also not heard of how the police shot and killed some masquerades in other parts of Nigeria. If masquerading is a state policy, then masquerades should be better protected.”  

“But it is all part of the economy. Masquerade as business metaphor.”

“What business?”

“Okay, this government in two years has made music very popular. The biggest achievement by the National Assembly for example is that special song: Ajekun iya ni o je, ajekun iya ni o je…. I won’t be surprised if Beyonce, or R.Kelly or any of our superstars - Whizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Banky W turn it into a major remix, with some Senators appearing in the video. In fact, Ajekun iya was a major presentation during the Lagos at 50 celebrations."

“Recession is almost entering third quarter. Nigeria is going a-borrowing. Businesses are closing shop. More workers than ever have been retrenched.”

“That’s because some people emptied the treasury. That has nothing to do with the last two years. Some people emptied the treasury.”

“Your family members obviously.”

“No. This is not about my own family, but your chop-and clean-mouth family. The day your truth will come out, hen.”

“I beg.”

“But you are aware SMB Intelligence says the cost of governance has gone up and that nothing has changed?”

“What do those ones know about the economy? You can’t assess a whole administration by administering corner-side questionnaires. I can bet they gave those forms to PDP members.”

“Is it also the PDP that is responsible for Baba’s health travels to the UK?”

“God is in control. Baba will return hale and hearty and all of you will be put to shame. I thank God Mummy has said Baba is recovering fast and that he will be back home very soon.”

“Al hamdulillahi”

“We thank God for everything. And we thank God for the Nigerian drugs that Baba has been using in the UK.”

“But wait a moment. Did you just say Mummy?”

“Yes. Mummy of the nation, mummy Aisha.”

“Ha. Oh my. Look at me."

“What is it?”

“I know your type. You-are-a-sycophant! You have joined them to call the President’s wife, your Mummy? Haba.”

“She is our Mummy."

“Don’t worry. I understand.”

“You actually don’t have to worry, because I also think Osinbajo is doing well. And I see you people, the Oduduwa people are just so excited that your brother is now the one in charge. Una do well.”

“I am not excited. I am worried about the Acting President’s safety.”

“Why? How? Nobody is disturbing him."

“Have you not heard that some people are now saying he has surrounded himself with Yoruba people?”

“That is not true? Most of his staff are Northerners and Muslims.”

“They have started playing him sha. Obviously, some people don’t appreciate the fact that it is a good thing for this government that Baba formally handed over to his deputy. It is the best demonstration of good faith so far.”

“The people who are criticizing the Acting President, did they not read his speech on Biafra?"

“They don’t read.”

“He reached out to the Biafrans. He said we belong together, not apart. He then visited Cross River state.”

”Cross River state is not part of Biafra."

“It is in the map.”

“Which map? The map drawn up by IPOB and MASSOB?”

“I saw Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom states in the map.”

“I have also seen comments by people from those states saying they are not part of Biafra and that they have no intention to leave Nigeria, and nobody should conscript them.”  

“Are you sure?"

Look. Let’s leave that matter. Have you seen anybody from outside Igboland supporting secession?”

“Yes”

“And who is that?”

“Their in-law, FFK”

“A very good in-law.”

“It’s always good to support our wives.” 

“My friend, can we talk about something else? FFK is an intellectual. Don’t insult him, my friend.”

“Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

“I didn’t like the way the Acting President was hugging and shaking hands with people when he visited Calabar. That is too dangerous. Anything could have happened to him. His security details should be queried. The man even collected vegetables from a market woman. His security was compromised.”

“The Acting President is covered by the blood of Jesus, and God of Adeboye. He will not be kidnapped in Jesus Mighty name.”

“Oh, you are part of that crowd?”

“Blood of Calvary. God of Ayo Babalola. The I am that I am…”

“Hellooo….”