Politicians and members of the elite ruling class in Nigeria have often gleefully announced to any listening audience that Nigeria’s unity is final and cannot be negotiated, dismissing any chance of renegotiating the terms of unity binding the highly polarised country together. What they have failed to take cognisance of is the fact that lies have an expiry date and their half-baked attempt at convenient patriotism will only need time to be exposed.
The negotiability of the ‘mere geographical expression’ (in the words of Obafemi Awolowo) called Nigeria has been the chorus, whenever any Nigerian politician is boxed to the corner, on a matter that threatens any of their exclusive socio-economic privileges.
What these politicians are either too blind to see the reality or they are, as usual being hypocritical is that an average Nigerian today knows and understands how dissimilar they are with other Nigerians given how religiously, politically, and ideologically different they are fom one another. To them, Nigeria was forcefully joined by their colonial masters through the amalgamation of 1914, an act upon which quite a lot of Nigerians blame the ill happenings in the country; calling it a parochial marriage on the part of the colonial masters.
Even the nationalists in the country had at one time or the other faulted the union. They objectively looked at the foundation of the unity the country has and concluded that it is not impeccable. Where then did today’s brand of politicians buy the lie that Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable?
The truth remains that even countries that are getting it right negotiate their unity let alone the one that is just a step from collapsing. A marriage that wants to last longer must be ready to take negotiations as an important tool and this is something Nigerian political elites must stop toying with.
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Perhaps, it is even sad that the same politicians who often mouth these platitudes are the same people shattering the perceived unity that currently exists in the country by bringing the fault lines to the fore at every election curve. These mischievous politicians often travel abroad to preach equality and anti-racism but cannot win their elections in Nigeria if they don’t appear in their religious and ethnic regalia. This is not sad, it is utterly wicked and reprehensible.
These absurdities will make one begin to wonder, what then is negotiable, if the Nigerian Unity is not? Is it the Nigerian Peace, or the human dignity of the Nigerian man that is (fast being eroded by the harsh socioeconomic reality, resulting from bad governance)? Is it the principles of justice and equity, that form the egalitarian basis of a 21st-century society, that seem to have no place in the way the country’s affairs are conducted? Is it the non-existent rule of law that is fast turning Nigeria into a Banana Republic? What then can be negotiated?
What is unity, when and where there is no peace? Where is peace, where there is no justice and equity?
Even Nigeria’s colonial masters, United Kingdom who plotted the forced marriage to last for a century did not add the non-negotiability clause to their own unity. The UK for instance which is a union of about 500 years, did not start to exist without the Republic of Ireland.
Ireland was part of the Kingdom, until 1919, when it proclaimed its independence on the 24th of April, 1916; and declared it, 21st of January, 1919.
They never started the Union with the Scottish and Welsh parliaments. But today, due to the exigencies of the need to re-negotiate terms of unity, these concessions were granted to make every group feel more secure in the union. Today, nobody feels more British than the others. But can one say the same thing about Nigeria? Where then does the non-negotiability stem from?
Just recently, the Scots wanted independence, and pronto, a referendum was organised but the agitation was defeated at the poll; and that settled it, at least for now. Scotland remains in the Union, without foreclosing a revisit in the future, if the need arises. This is supposed to be the standard of every natural and artificial marriage of nations, why then should that of Nigeria be different?
In the face of acute and chronic injustices and chronic lopsidedness of distribution of opportunities that has been elevated to a status of officialdom in Nigeria today, why can’t Nigerians come to a roundtable and renegotiate the deal? It is high time Nigerian politicians come to the realisation that the non-negotiability mantra has become an old song that has lost its appeal in the ears of the listeners! They must understand this reality and act accordingly.
The truth is that despite the shortcomings and the inability of the political class in the country to fully embrace unity with every sense of responsibility, Nigeria as a country can remain one but for that to happen, it wouldn’t be at the expense of the rights of Nigerians to life. It wouldn’t be at the expense of the human dignity of downtrodden Nigerians. It wouldn’t be at the expense of the livelihood of ‘common Nigerians’. It certainly wouldn’t be on the current basis of the terms, dictated by owners of oil wells, DisCos, and arresters of the national development of the country. It wouldn’t be based on the dictates of some retired military billionaires and their political stooges.
Yes, Nigeria can remain a united country, but that unity must and will be negotiated and not based on the interest of the socioeconomic vampires, who currently parade themselves as political elites, in whose hands the socioeconomic destinies of millions of Nigerians lie.
The ruling class must understand that only a Nigeria where her unity is rooted in mutual trust and respect among the people of the different groups that make it up will be accepted going forward.
The recent violent skirmishes between the Yoruba and their Igbo guests in Lagos State around the recently concluded general elections demonstrate that Nigerians are forcing themselves, or are being forced, to live together. Why then should Nigeria’s unity be non-negotiable? It has to be!
Going forward, it is high time the country comes together to the roundtable for negotiations. The 2014 Confab which was put together by the then government of Good luck Jonathan must be put together again, this time with more elaborate mandates and more succinct and frank conversations.
Nigerians must now make restructuring a focal point of their conversations if they want to make anything out of the union which is certainly not working at the moment.
In conclusion, Nigerian politicians and the members of the elite class must understand clearly that the only way to suture the diverse Nigerian political tendencies together is to have healthy conversations to chart a common goal together. If this does not happen, the country will continue to swim in the murky water of disunity and a more destructive event may finally bring the union to an end if care is not taken.
