On or around March 20, 2023, two days after the ballot into the offices of state governors and state legislators, which took place on 18 March, Seun Osewa issued what he ostentatiously titled “An Apology to the Igbo People of Nigeria.” A 40-year-old graduate of one of Nigeria’s best universities, the Obafemi Awolowo University, in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Mr Osewa is best known as the mind behind Nairaland, the rumbunctious digital bulletin board where Nigerians trade all manner of things on the ether, from the sublime to the egregious.

Addressed to “the Igbo People”, the statement claimed to “sincerely apologise for allowing a toxic political banner advert which said ‘Lagos can never be run from Anambra; go and vote’ to run on Nairaland for several hours on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.” 

It described the advertisement as “an ethnically divisive political campaign aimed at securing Lagos State for the ruling party by instilling fear in Yoruba people, making them believe that Igbo people intended to ‘take over’ Lagos State.”

Mr Osewa ultimately blamed the advert on the absence of “clear policy against accepting negative and ethnically divisive ads on Nairaland” before generously disclosing that having made N16,000 (sixteen thousand Naira) from the advert, he will “double it and donate it to victims of political violence in Lagos.”

It is not entirely clear what Mr Osewa hoped to achieve with his “apology”. The response he got was anything but generous. Journalist Fisayo Soyombo accused him of being among people who are “led by their pockets.” Techpreneur Osaretin Asemota dismissed the release as “performative nonsense”. Chibuzor Okoronkwo accused Mr Osewa’s release of “putting more salt to the injury.”

Mr Osewa’s apology hardly helped its author. First, it came from a place that hardly abjured collective punishment on grounds of immutable identity. Ethnic politics may be de rigeur but, in Nigeria, Igbos don’t have a right to vote; citizens do. Those citizens come from any number of over 389 ethnicities and over 500 language groups. No ethnic group votes as a herd in Nigeria. Dozie Ikedife Jr. campaigned for Bola Tinubu just as Rinu Oduala supported Peter Obi. 

Second, Mr Osewa clearly conflated ethnic identity with political opinion, ending up with a determinism that equates one with the other. It was immaterial that the ruling APC had high-level support from such people as the incumbent governors of Ebonyi and Imo States as well as past governors of Abia and Enugu States, all of them Igbo. The people who set out to suppress the votes of Igbos in Lagos did so by rejecting the political autonomy of the citizen requiring them manu militari to either renounce their ethnic identity or immolate their civic agency.

Third, Mr Osewa appeared to assume that ethnic profiling can be attained with neat precision, which is far from the case because you sooner or later discover that many people look alike across lines of situational division. On the day of the state-level election in Lagos, Iyanuoluwa Bolarinwa, a name that is unlikely to make the bearer Igbo, reported that she was “told to go back to Anambra”, one of the Igbo States, before being “rough handled, beaten and sent out because I look Igbo? Because I was not going to vote APC?” 

Popular Youtuber, Sisi Yemmie, reported that party political heavies precluded her and her husband from voting because they were said to “look like Igbo people.” Mr Osewa’s “apology to the Igbo people of Nigeria” did not extend to people like Sisi Yemmie or Iyanuoluwa, neither of whom is Igbo but both of whom suffered violence because of the kind of poison that he sold. 

As if to add the salt of mirth to the injury and hurt from his advertisement, Mr. Osewa then promised to donate N32,000 (thirty-two thousand Naira) to the “victims of political violence in Lagos.” Impressively, this part of Mr Osewa’s release is the only one addressed to “victims”, an implicit concession that the class of the injured may have gone beyond the ethnic identity group of his target. Yet, he seems to assume that the victims are a coherent group, organised with a bank account in this season of no cash and that their injuries can be cured by unconcealed hubris from the authors of their civic liquidation.

On any of these metrics, Mr Osewa was probably best advised not to have bothered to issue his release. Without it, many people may have been willing to overlook the advertisement on Nairaland. After this release, most people will have few doubts as to where to place him. 

Mr Osewa’s flippancy is characteristic of the people who instigated the ethnic violence and profiling or see themselves benefiting from it. They want to turn the page as if nothing happened and quickly move on, summoning everyone along with dubious appeals to fatuous patriotism. Mr. Osewa’s “apology to Igbo People” ended with him asking his readers to “NOT give up on Nigeria”, with the promise that “TOGETHER we will overcome.” The capital letters are original to him. It is not clear, however, where he gets his collective pronoun to voice a promise he’s not in a position to make. 

Like Mr Osewa, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, basking in the afterglow of re-election, swiftly appealed to “a spirit of solidarity and togetherness that binds us as Lagosians.” His principal, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, claimed to be “pained by cases of ethnic slurs, which are capable of creating needless mis-characterisation reported in some locations.”

The victims, understandably, are slow to make haste. They must bury their dead, bind their wounds, immortalise their scars, re-discover dignity, and then wonder whether they belong to the country that invites them to healing and patriotism only when it is convenient. In the cycle of Nigeria’s elections, patriotism can have a shelf life of the 90-minute duration of a football match involving the men’s national team. In any case, it must be furloughed in the year preceding elections.

The reality is no one ever moves on from this kind of violence. The perpetrators see the benefit for themselves in the humiliations and exclusions they can inflict, which come with munificent benefits in propinquity to power thereafter. Far from being humbled, their impunity emboldens them. The victims nurse their traumas, which many of their generations will inherit from them. 

This is why election violence in Nigeria is chronic. As the Sheikh Lemu Presidential Panel Report on post-election violence (which remains classified) of 2011 makes clear, violence and ethnic profiling have “continually featured in almost all elections in Nigeria since the first election that was conducted in 1922. The temptation is to suggest that election violence is deeply embedded in the Nigerian political culture.”

This should make it obvious that ethnic profiling and accompanying violence of the sort that characterised these elections and necessitated Mr Osewa’s faux apologia is not a fate for Nigeria. It is a century-old choice. The divisions that sustain this pathology are so essential to the DNA of power and politics in Nigeria that those declared winners do not have any incentives to bring it to an end. The narrative of an inter-ethnic zero-sum game is profitable. 

In strictly material terms, you can see their point. For Mr Osewa, the cost is a promise to contribute N32,000 to a non-existent fund or entity. In a country where the citizens or politicians are ready to bring this nonsense to an end, Mr Osewa will not have the courage to rub this salt into the injury that he propagated. 

I thank the organizers for the invitation to participate in this side event at the UN 2023 Water Conference which has been described as the most important water event in a generation. The 2023 UN Water Conference, organized after a 50-year hiatus since the first UN Water Conference was held in Argentina in 1977, is indeed an opportunity for us to raise ambition to support the attainment of SDG 6 targets in Africa by 2030 and present game-changing solutions for the multifaceted crises of “too much water”, such as storms and floods; “too little water”, such as droughts and water scarcity; and “too dirty water”, such as polluted water.

Inadequate quantity and quality, water is essential for all aspects of life and sustainable development. The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), not surprisingly, is a “cornerstone” goal. The achievement of clean water and sanitation is key to achieving many of the other SDGs. It is critical to sustainably managing natural resources and it is embedded in all aspects of development – poverty reduction, food security, and health – and in sustaining economic growth in agriculture, industry, and energy generation. Water is also recognized as a central plank of the green economy.

Despite the proven benefits of investing in water for development, water security – which is not only about the availability of sufficient water, but in simple terms addresses the ‘too little’, ‘too much’, and ‘too dirty’ issues of water management, is far from being realized in many countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered critical gaps in water and sanitation services, with serious consequences for public health.  This challenge is particularly acute in Africa, which has little chance of meeting SDG-6 targets by 2030. Access to water and sanitation services is very low:  30 % of the population in sub-Saharan Africa used a safely managed drinking water service by 2020, only 20% used a safely managed sanitation service, and 26% had access to hand-washing facilities. On water stress, only 6% of the renewable water resources in Sub- Saharan Africa is being withdrawn according to SDG 6 snapshots provided by UN Waters.

From drought in the Horn of Africa to floods in Sierra Leone, to water shortages in Cape Town and Bouake, so many people in Africa live every day with the damage done by too much or too little water. Growing demands driven by demographic changes and urbanization; reduced water availability and quality, exacerbated by climate change; the potential for conflict over water resources – all these issues mean Africa is on the frontlines of the water crisis.

Ominously, current levels of investments are outstripped by increases in population, and the number of unserved people is rising. Poor water quality is the root cause of 70–80 percent of diseases. Every hour, an estimated 115 people die from diseases related to improper hygiene, poor sanitation, or contaminated water.

Lack of access to safe water has a clear gender impact as the burden of securing water falls disproportionately on women and girls with consequences for their income and educational opportunities. Lack of sanitation also creates specific risks for women and girls’ safety.

While water security is key to our collective future, Africa is still deeply water-insecure. Data from the UN’s first-ever assessment of water security in Africa published by the Canada-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health in 2022, presents very sobering and worrisome results. The assessment used 10 indicators to quantify water security in Africa’s 54 countries and introduced five stages of water security: Emerging (a score of 0 — 45), slight (45 — 60), modest (60 — 75), effective (75 — 90), and model (90 — 100).

While data deficiencies loomed large, not a single country is at the highest “model” stage of water security. Except for Egypt, all countries scored below 70. Only 13 of 54 countries were found to have a “modest” level of water security, while over a third of the 54 countries had a“emerging” level water security, representing a large gap to be closed to reach an acceptable level.

Water insecurity also has links with conflicts. At the state level, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan have been engaged in a continuing fratricidal dispute over fresh water in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Water-related conflicts are also expected to increase under climate change, as droughts which drive water scarcity, become more frequent due to erratic rainfall patterns. Communities along Lake Chad have erupted in violence as citizens, battle for limited water resources. Boko Haram has waged a violent insurgent campaign since 2010; partly as a result of the drying up of Lake Chad. In the Darfur region in Sudan, access to water was part of the regional conflict and a trigger of the humanitarian emergency there. In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, changing rainfall patterns are limiting the grazing area of herders, who then encroach on the land of farmers. Water-related violence has been responsible for more casualties than the violent insurgency waged by Boko Haram. This conflict caused the deaths of 1,078 people between the months of January and March 2018.

A major challenge has been weak governance which exacerbates these water challenges. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) succinctly defines water governance as “the range of political, social, economic, and administrative systems that are in place to develop and manage water resources, and to deliver water services at different levels of society”. Many river/lake basin organizationshave been put in place in Africa and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) adopted as a new paradigm for sustainable water management at national and regional levels but challenges abound in several countries, particularly in moving from the realm of policy to actual change on the ground.

Any role for Cities and Municipalities?

While in a majority of African countries, water policy is driven at the national level by a line ministry often in charge of most regulatory functions, including tariff setting, quality standards definitions and monitoring, and consumer protection and engagement, the last decade has seen an increasing leadership of city and sub-national governments in water policy as a recent OECD survey indicates.

Though the political, regulatory and fiscal powers of local governments vary across the continent, we believe that cities are uniquely situated to drive change at the local level in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on “Clean water and sanitation for all” in Africa.

Mayors and city leaders hold the key to water security. They are closer to citizens and oversee critical investments and decisions related to land use, solid waste, infrastructure, and environmental amenities. They can drive water security and promote low-cost, green, and nature-based solutions. Even where water policies remain highly centralized, mayors are taking bold actions to fix water pipes and institutions.

With mounting pressures on water resources from climate, urbanization, and demographic trends in Africa, more partnerships between national and local leaders are needed. Governors and Mayors in particular, now need to turn the key to unlock the development of better water policies for better lives. As many decisions affecting urban water management are taken outside the water arena and vice-versa (spatial planning, agriculture, energy, etc.), coordination is essential to ensure a whole-of-government approach through which water can become a factor for sustainable growth and contribute to the broader economic, social and environmental agenda.

The OECD and UCLG Africa joined forces to launch a new Roundtable of African Mayors for Water Security. The Roundtable which brought together more than 50 Mayors from cities of different sizes across the five sub-regions of Africa, will facilitate the design and implementation of more robust local water policies.

At the 9th World Water Forum that took place in Senegal in March 2022, Mayors from across the globe united to applaud this initiative and adopt an Action Plan to leverage the 12 OECD Principles on Water Governance to ensure the right to water and sanitation, foster rural-urban linkages, catalyze innovative finance, promote inclusive governance and advance cooperation for future-proof and resilient water systems.

The platform aims to facilitate the design and implementation of robust local water policies by producing granular data and evidence, sharing knowledge, experience, and best practices, and enhancing collaboration among Mayors.

The Case for City Basin Management

The results of the 2021 OECD Survey on Water Governance in 36 African cities, however, indicate that only 42% of cities surveyed are part of a river basin organization. In the absence of integrated basin governance systems, the mismatch between hydrological and administrative boundaries can lead to competition between water uses and hinder the effectiveness of service delivery.

River basin organizations are no doubt important tools for coordinating water policy at the territorial level, across sectors, stakeholders, and between levels of government. Indeed, they can be useful to manage water at the appropriate scale through integrated basin governance to reflect local conditions, foster multi-level cooperation for the management of water resources; encourage sound hydrological cycle management; and promote adaptive and mitigation strategies.

Building a “City-Basin Dialogue” is thus the surest way to move toward sustainable water management in Africa. Governors, Mayors, and city leaders, who are closer to citizens and place-based needs, could play a more significant role in addressing the mismatch between hydrological and administrative boundaries, by contributing to water resource management within integrated basin systems.

Effective multi-level governance is needed to manage water at the appropriate functional and territorial scale(s), within integrated basin governance systems, to enhance rural-urban linkages, and develop place-based solutions that reflect local conditions, as set out in the Action Plan of Mayors, Local and Regional Governments for Water Security signed by 80+ local authority representatives gathered within the OECD/ UCLG-Africa Roundtable of African Mayors for Water Security. This is the way ahead and my organization, the Forum of Regions of Africa, is pledging to ensure that this collaboration succeeds.  

The Case of Nigeria

Let me briefly turn to the case of Nigeria my country, before I proffer few recommendations on the way forward.

Nigeria, in recent years, has made modest progress in expanding access to water, sanitation, and hygiene to its rapidly growing population of 209 million people –  the largest on the African continent.

By 2018, a combination of inadequate infrastructure, a lack of required human capital, poor investment, and a deficient enabling regulatory environment, amongst other challenges, meant that approximately 60 million Nigerians were living without access to basic drinking water, 80 million people had no access to improved sanitation facilities, while 167 million could not access basic hand-washing facilities.

In rural areas, 39% of households lack access to at least a basic water supply, while only half have access to improved sanitation, and almost a third (29%) practice open defecation.

The Government of Nigeria strengthened its commitment to improving access to WASH services, with President Muhammadu Buhari declaring a State of Emergency in 2018 and launching the National Action Plan (NAP); a 13-year strategy for the Revitalization of Nigeria’s Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Sector aimed at ensuring universal access to sustainable and safely managed WASH services by 2030, commensurate with the Sustainable Development Goals.

With the support of the World Bank and other development partners, the Federal Government of Nigeria has developed initiatives designed to fill identified gaps that have limited citizens’ ability to have access to safe and potable water. One of these initiatives was the National Urban Water Sector Reform Program (NUWSRP).

The NUWSRP outlined several objectives, including sector reform, water utility sustainability and commercial viability, infrastructure improvement, service reliability, and performance enhancement, and increased access to quality piped water networks in urban areas nationwide.

The World Bank listed the achievements recorded through the NUWSRP to include the construction of over 2,300 additional Water Points, and 6,546 sanitation compartments and hygiene facilities across the country; the creation of 12,435 direct and 24,870 indirect jobs since 2015; and the certification of a total of 33 Local Government Areas within nine States as Open Defecation Free (ODF).

Several challenges however remain!

Nigeria currently has no comprehensive water law. Efforts by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to introduce the Water Bill since 2021, have been mired in controversy, especially by States that contend that the bill sought to entrench and vest the ownership, control, and management of water resources in the Federal Government.  

Nigeria is currently divided into 36 states and the FCT. In the absence of a comprehensive law, each state operates with different institutional structures, power dynamics, and little or no regulatory oversight. In most states, a State Water Board (SWB) is responsible for providing water and sanitation services. On the whole, however, SWBs are hobbled by nonexistent or weak incentives for better performance, aging infrastructure, inadequate or ineffective operations and maintenance, weak institutional capacity, and little accountability to consumers.

UNICEF also recently raised concerns that an estimated 70% of water at the point of consumption is contaminated and, as a result, Nigeria has the world’s highest number of deaths from the waterborne disease among children under five years old, estimated at 117,000 children every year.

The Way Forward

To conclude, getting water security right is now a matter of urgency across Africa, where the number of water-insecure urban residents is rising. Progress on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 must accelerate with a sense of great urgency, given the pressing need for improved water and sanitation access in communities and municipalities across the continent.

Missing and patchy information stemming from incomplete, outdated, and/or fragmented data, remains a prominent obstacle to effective water policy implementation, evaluation, and monitoring. Action needs to be undertaken immediately by national governments to radically improve data collection for Africa, with support from international agents. Better quality data and monitoring and reporting of water resources will lead to an increase in knowledge, which will support the ability to make informed decisions for enhancing water security through better water resource management. Perhaps, water data availability itself should be used as an indicator in future water security assessments.

The funding gap is huge and considerable investment efforts are still required to achieve SDG 6.1.1 and 6.2.1 targets by 2030. It has been estimated that Africa will need investments of up to $20 billion a year, but countries today are allocating no more than 0.5 percent of their GDP to the water sector. A first step could be to reform water tariffs, to recover the costs of investment, operation, and maintenance of water infrastructure as much as possible. A certain proportion of the investment gap could also be covered through increased efficiency with technical losses representing from 20% to 50%, and collection ratio ranging from 80% to 95% throughout Africa. Subsidies and tariff structures must also be appropriately designed, targeted, and implemented with the objectives to achieve sustainability, equity, affordability, and the appropriate level of service for all.

The lack of capacity related to water – human, financial, institutional, technological, and service provisioning – is a major hurdle to achieving water security. As water security has social, humanitarian, economic, legal, and environmental dimensions, it requires an equally wide range of capacities and expertise that go beyond the immediate management of available water resources. Policy-makers need to identify existing capacities, as well as gaps, in order to properly address the water security challenge. Such assessments need to be undertaken at both the institutional and relevant geographical (national, river basin, etc.) levels.

Finally, an expansive and inclusive framing of water security must also emphasize the ability to manage tensions and conflicts at different levels through appropriate governance, negotiation, and the rule of law. Water security must, of necessity, reduce the potential for conflicts and tensions, contributing to significant social, development, economic, and environmental benefits.

Fayemi, the President of the Forum of Regions of Africa and former Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), made this presentation on the sidelines of the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York, United States.

As a consequence of the events of the last few days I am constrained to say that, like a rabid and mad dog that is foaming at the mouth, the Nigerian opposition, represented by the followers of Atiku Abubakar (Atikulators) and the followers of Peter Obi (Obidients), have lost control of their senses.

They need to get a grip before it is too late. They are attempting to start something that they cannot finish and that they cannot possibly fathom the end of.

They are beating the drums of war and are indulging in a level of irresponsible and downright dangerous behaviour that has NEVER been witnessed before in the annals of the history of our politics.

As a consequence of their subterranean manipulations, byzantine conspiracies, unhinged vituperations and unbridled desperation things are getting very hot and they are pushing us towards an Armageddon-like melt down and the road to Kigali.

Be rest assured that had it not been for impartiality, strong resolve, persistent interventions and sheer professionalism of our intelligence agencies and particularly the DSS who have worked day and night to keep the peace and stop us from tearing each other apart, we would have trod that disaterous path and met a bitter end long ago.

The signals are not good and, unless they exercise restraint, reflect sobriety and change course quickly, it is clear that our nation will soon find itself in a cataclysmic and monumental struggle between the forces of light and darkness, the likes of which have never been seen before.

Permit me to offer some free and unsolicited advice to them and to those that are stoking their insufferable and rabid arrogance, intransigence and belligerence from behind the scenes.

That advice is as follows.

Peace is priceless and unity is a fundamental pre-requisite to progress and prosperity: you must learn to cherish them both.

That you have lost today does not mean you will lose forever.

I counsel you to calm down, purge yourself of hate, sheath your sword of war, drop your dastardly gameplan and not so hidden agenda to establish an Interim Government, desist from displaying madness, bend the knee and bow to your President-elect, refrain from weaponising falsehood, act within the law and, if you must, make your protestations quietly in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility and there will be no problems.

Go to court, if you must, and state your case with respect, dignity and decorum and I assure you that, no matter the outcome, there will be NO issues.

That is what democracy and the rule of law is all about. You win some and you lose some.

That is the reasonable, rational and responsible attitude and disposition that you should cultivate, display, engender and reflect. That is the path to peace.

However if you continue to say you do not believe in the system or institutions, that the President-elect must not be sworn in under any circundtsnces and that you have no faith in the courts or the rule of law and you encourage people to take the law into their own hands then you are inviting chaos, anarchy, violence, tyranny, fascism, treason, a breach of the constitution and the law of the jungle and we will NOT sit by idly and allow that.

If you continue to incite, intimidate, threaten, provoke, destabilise, undermine and overheat the polity and breach the rules of engagement all hell will break lose.

Our only "crime" was to win an election yet because you cannot bear the fact that you lost you want to pull the whole house down and burn everyone in it.

Let this serve as a timely warning. We cannot be a punching bag for the opposition forever and soon we will react.

Trust me when I tell you that if there is any foul play in this matter or any conspiracy to thwart the people's will we will make this nation ungovernable.

There can be no more cheating, no more subterfuge, no more games and no more dastardly tricks. We have seen enough of that over the last 63 years of our national existence.

Do NOT test our will or underestimate our firm resolve.

We speak for the silent and peaceful majority and, unlike the opposition, we cut across all regional, ethnic and religious lines. We do not represent just one faith or just one tribe.

We represent all faiths and all tribes and our supporters can be found everywhere in this country. We are the hope and promise of a better future shrouded in glory, unity, peace, strength and prosperity for our nation.

There are millions of us all over this country and when we say that we will stand on Bola Tinubu's mandate and defend it, we mean it.

We are not joking and we are not playing games. We have prepared for it, we have the means to do so and we WILL do so.

I implore you in the name of God not to mistake our relative silence, calm disposition, magnanimity and attempt to reach out in peace as weakness, stupidity or an indication of fear or guilt.

I urge you not to "cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war".

I counsel you not to 'wake our sleeping sword lightly".

The bottom line is as follows. Annul Asiwaju's election and we will annul your brain. We have returned to the trenches.

Those that kindle fire shall be consumed by it. Those that invoke the spirit of war shall be destroyed by it.

Those that wish to truncuate our democracy shall be crushed by it. And those that seek peace, unity, justice, progress and fair play shall find it.

The people have spoken. God has approved it.

If you want to steal our mandate you will have to kill every single one of us and be ready to spend the next twenty to thirty years in a massive regional conflagration and major conflict.

This is NOT our prayer and no sane person wants war.

However we shall not shirk away from it if is forced upon us by those that are hell bent on robbing us, suppressing us, enslaving US, cheating us and turning us into pawns and vassals of their vain and obsessive delusions, their wicked, vicious and relentless disposition of tyranny and their unbridled and insatiable lust for power.

There are some things that are worth fighting and, if necessary, dying for and democracy, fair play, truth, the rule of law, righteousness and justice are amongst them.

Let that sink and let peace reign. A word is enough for the wise.

(FFK)

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

I had expected the Obidient movement to abandon its punitive expedition after the elections and evolve into an ideological pressure group – a worthy opposition. But the movement is still anything but ideological and civil. It has become more brutish, more desperate, nastier, and feral. The Obidient movement is shaping up to be a gaggle of insurrectionists.

For all intents and purposes, the movement seems to be gearing up to make the country ungovernable.

Diligent and disciplined opposition is essential for democracy. In fact, there is no democracy, if there is no educated opposition. No government is short of opposition. In a democracy, the residence of an animated opposition signals the buoyancy of the system. Where there is democracy, there is opposition. Opposition is the mitochondrion of a republican system – it keeps the government on the mill working according to purpose.

But one thing that drives genuine oppositions and that should be the nucleus of every group is national interest. National interest and security should dictate the terms of engagement of any movement.

Any movement not guided by the national interest is a threat to the security of all Nigerians. The Obidient movement appears unconcerned about the deleterious effects of its methods on national security and the national psyche. I fear that some members of the proscribed group, IPOB, may be within the commanding heights of the movement.

The resort to malicious falsehood, threats of violence and violence on those who differ betokens a grimier trajectory. The Obidient movement may just be the political platform for those waging a war against Nigeria by other means.

The movement’s methods are worsening the already deteriorating relationship among Nigerians of different ethnic backgrounds. This is how inter-ethnic dissension is born. There is the assumption that it is the Igbo against the Yoruba or the Yoruba against the Igbo, but this is not true. It is ‘’Obidients’’ against the rest of Nigeria.

The Obidient movement does not represent the Igbo. Let me make that very clear. It is peopled by a melange of persons who pursue the illusory ambition of one man. They are powered by the ambition of one man, and not the interest of any ethnic group. It is important Nigerians situate the present confusion within this context. The Obidient movement does not represent any ethnic group.

Political actors and lovers of Nigeria must wade in with their voices and actions to tame this babel. Nigeria is on a slippery slope. This is not a time for politics, but a time for statesmen and stateswomen to rise and defend the country against internecine strife. National interest and security should govern public comments at this time.

We must put the peace and security of this nation first.

I have no doubt that we will come out stronger as a nation. From chaos comes change. Nigeria will always triumph – over the pestilence of the night; the darkness of Edom, principalities, and powers; snakes and scorpions. Nigeria has survived pestilence, riots and unimaginable chaos that split countries. It is still going.

But why does Nigeria always win – in the end? It is because you, me, they, them, we, us. It is because of all of us who despite our dissatisfaction with the system, come together to steady the ship and steer it aright against the blizzards and tempests.

It is because of you who despite your financial challenges refuse to compromise the public purse; refuse to steal public funds or cut corners; it is because of you who decline to take bribes to get jobs done; it is because of you who against personal trials and tribulations refuse to join the choir of the scoffers who do not see anything good in the country and who will neither make an effort nor contribute a mite to its progress. It is because of all of you who do not give up but stand to fight for the country.

When I say ‘One Nigeria’ I do not deny the very obvious threats to our unity. I do not live in denial of the chasm keeping us apart, but I believe in that uncommon facility of Nigerians to close this gap and work together for the common good. When it comes down to it, Nigerians are their brother’s keeper. We have seen this rare quality in display all the time.

One Nigeria’ is not a political placebo; it does not mean the absence of conflict or a denial of the present realities; it is a term that should evoke hope and promise for us all.

To me, Nigeria means hope and promise of a greater now and future; it means resilience and courage to rise from dust and nothing; it means purpose in disarray, unity in diversity, brotherhood in divergence and love even in dangerous times.

Adamu: A man who rigs his way to power carries a moral burden!

Orezime: A moral what?

Adamu: You heard me, didn’t you?

Orezime: I’m not sure I heard you right. Moral what you said?

Adamu: A moral burden, I said!

Orezime: Hahahahahahaha! You make me laugh! Are you from the moon?

Gani: Or Mars?

Emeka: In which country? In Nigeria? That principle does not apply in Nigeria! There is no moral burden on anybody in this country! The election which produced Bubu in 2015 was rigged. Where are the two million voters from Kano State who voted in 2015? Was an INEC official not burnt alive after that election? The one which brought Obj to power was also rigged by the forces which wanted him to ease the tension of the Abiola tragedy on the Yoruba people. Yet those men had the temerity to preach against corruption!

Orezime: The international community winked at the whole exercise.

Gani: Yes! That’s why those two could only preach; they couldn’t really act decisively. A moral burden? Thye spoke from both sides of their mouths on the issue of corruption. Late President Yar Adua confessed that the election which produced him was compromised. An honest man, he didn’t live long enough to right the wrong of the period!

Orezime: That’s why I laughed when Adamu talked about a moral burden arising from rigged elections.

Bankole: In the ideal world, any power that is stolen and acquired through a dubious means imposes a moral burden on the power holder. No matter what the person does, that power remains stained.

Orezime: What does that amount to in our country? Even the brigands who shot their way to power in the notorious days of military misadventure in Nigeria soon became legitimate.

Emeka: You are going too far in our history. See what happened in Lagos State in the governorship elections of March 18. Ethnic jingoists went about preaching hatred against Igbo people and warned them against coming out to exercise their constitutional rights. Security officials looked the other way when ballot boxes were snatched in broad daylight in places where the opposition was leading.

Gani: A serving state governor personally went about snatching ballot boxes and threatened to shoot whoever got in his way. The same governor declared somebody wanted without recourse to the Inspector General of Police! He worked against the party on which platform he won the seat to spite the party hierarchy!

Adamu: And to think that this is the President-elect’s state. He kept mute through the horrendous attacks on Igbo people in Lagos State just the way the incumbent president has looked the other way when herdsmen went on the loose!

Bankole: Rigged elections are so familiar yet notorious in our land. It was the main trigger to the crisis in the Western Region in the First Republic because the people reacted when they saw a rape of their rights and wishes! It soon snowballed into a conflagration that consumed the nation in the late 1960s. Already, the youths are talking about a protest in the ENDSARSNOW# manner. I hope it doesn’t result in disaster. We have lost too many lives already!

Orezime: What I fear is the rise of ethnic profiling in a supposedly democratic society. To be sure, Governor Sanwo-Olu and the party hierarchy did not single out any ethnic group for verbal attacks. They even courted them. Yet they didn’t caution their followers to stop the degeneration into ethnic hatred. It is a dangerous curve what is happening in Lagos. I don’t subscribe to the Lagos is no man’s land nonsense which some misguided fellows are spewing, but threatening anybody not to vote their candidate is a new low! Can a Sanwo-Olu victory be said to be legitimate if a significant percentage of the electorate is disenfranchised?

Emeka: Good question. They did not stop there. They rolled out the culturally dreaded Oro rituals on election night. Come on! Who is fooling who? The Oro festival was designed to drive fear into non-Yoruba in Lagos. In the 21st Century?

Gani: I am sure the reports from election observers will be damning.

Bankole: I don’t care about those biased observers.

Adamu: Where are we headed in this country?

Orezime: We are on the road to Kigali!

Bankole: May we not travel that route!

Orezime: It’s a good prayer. But what are we doing to avoid the descent into anarchy? Nothing. Those monkeys are simply interested in acquiring power.

Gani: The Obedient Movement seems to have lost steam once it was misbranded as an ethnic agenda to grab power at the national level. Peter Obi needs to tread carefully so he doesn’t become another June 12! Some people are egging him on to challenge INEC through protests.

Orezime: If he decides to lead a protest, it would be within his constitutional right to do so, especially as INEC is stalling on the issue of inspecting elections materials despite an order from the courts. Peaceful protests are guaranteed by the Constitution.

Adamu: No one can be sure whether a peaceful protest will remain peaceful after it starts. That’s the experience the ENDSARS people had.

Gani: It’s not enough to stop people from taking to the streets. Protests are fundamental to democracy.

Adamu: We do not want dead heroes! Mark my words.

Bankole: That’s ominous!

Emeka: It means nothing. Nigeria must change. We cannot go on like this forever! Things are just going down. No cash. No fuel. No power supply. No security. No nothing.  Peter Obi gave a glimmer of hope. Now that has been dashed to the ground.

Adamu: Rigging will remain a moral burden each time our President-elect travels outside the country, each time he meets foreign observers, especially those ones who have a dossier on him. History will also judge him and assess how he came to power. This applies to all the states as well where some politicians have turned themselves into demigods and have compromised poor INEC officials with mouthwatering sums. This is not how to build a democracy. The votes must be counted and must count. Seventeen people have their lives during the governorship and House of Assembly elections. We are supposed to count ballot papers, not bodies. Sad!

Bankole: The moral burden of rigged elections is on all of us. Without our connivance there would be no rigging. We can only hope that this will end some day!

Emeka: Tough luck!