NIGERIA'S UNITY: A FARCE OR REALITY? - Episode 1

Picturing Nigeria unity as a country bounded in unity is just like living in a fool’s paradise. The genesis of Nigeria problem lies with the forced marriage of January 1st 1914 amalgamation. Sometimes, I am lost in thought and so many questions have filed my mind;

....did our forefathers actually give their consent to the amalgamation of Nigeria?

....Or were they coerced to join hands with the hausa and Yoruba?

....Supposing they gave their consent, does it mean that the Hausas were not behaving the way they are behaving now?

....Or could it be possible that our forefathers did not consider our future before that tacit agreement?

....Even if they were coerced, how vigorously did they fight for us their children who are now in the valley of tears? 

The major crisis in Nigeria points to the inability of the amalgams to continue without agitation.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was the first to seek for audacious solution to these problematic question. Many have it that he failed since he ran into exile while Gen. Effiong surrendered to Gowon. But I am emphatically saying that he succeeded because we stand on his footstool and paradigm to fight for our contemporary generation. Ojukwu was a patriotic Nigeria until the gross intimidation of his own people began.

Even Awolowo of western Nigeria lucidly referred to Nigeria as “a mere geographical expression”. That is, people bound together only by land mass and nothing else; no common culture, religion, socio-political structure and psychological makeup. This is made manifest with the way he cares just for his people and only for others when ulterior motive is attached. Nonetheless, Awolowo is not far from the truth because nepotism, ethnicism, favouritism and tribalism have eaten deep into fabrics of the citizenry. You hardly finish a form without a column for provision of your tribe!!! To highlight those to be favoured and oust the Igbo man, the stranger in his country.

From the present situation of Nigeria, it can be concluded that Nigeria can never earn from history. One of the amalgamation rule states that; If the amalgamation fails to work after 100 years, let disintegration take over. Our leaders have adamantly paid deaf ear to that. We can see what militants are capable of, yet we still cast our votes to ex-militants. We have tasted fruits of agriculture before the emergence of crude oil, yet we have ignorantly and stupidly turned away from agriculture. All the Igbo people lost everything they had and received just 20 pounds after the civil war, yet we have continued to forget our homeland and develop other parts of the country. Without history, we are blind and will be eternally lost in neo-colonialism and instability.

So, how can we say that there is unity in Nigeria when there is constant bloodshed, when segregation, ethnic chauvinism are embedded in the system, when we cannot do without bribery and corruption, and most especially when we are swimming in violence without the enjoyment of relatives peace.
Though soon, Igbo people may be people issued with green cards as done to foreigners. But im confident that by then, any born Biafra will be receiving her wage or salary once given birth to in the Republic of Biafra, constant water and power supply and so on…