In three weeks of August, 2012, two flags – nay, three – have been hoisted: one for Ogoni, another for Bakassi, and yet another a federating flag of Bayelsa, all from the former Eastern Region. That’s an invitation to thought.
Since 1958, Ogoni has been giving Nigeria its much flaunted oil-wealth and got disdain and death in return. In the case of Bakassi, Nigeria gave it away without a fight. Like a whirl, citizens became non-citizens, against their wish, and pushed to where they don’t want to be; they’ve opted to be for themselves even if it’s a hole they can call home/country.
You may ask, why all these? In the former Eastern Region, not much was done to identify and build on strengths; in contrast, differences were amplified beyond reason. The feeling of perceived domination by Igbos made them look outside for saviours. Today, the question is: have the saviours saved? How come part of their territory is now Cameroon? How come Ogoni is dissociating from the saviour and Bayelsa lifting its non-saviour flag? The answer is: see what we’ve done to ourselves.
Nature gave them blue, beautiful seas and their neighbour robustly fertile and mineral-filled land. It’s only the mind to harness land, sea and people that’s missing. This symbiosis predestined to produce greatness, they’re yet to tap into. The British, despite their pursuit of self-interest, identified this close affinity and grouped them under one region. But the large eye for difference makes them think separation rather than rank-closing as way forward. The Ogoni experiment has disproved this.
Nigeria’s initial 12-state structure was aimed at dismembering/weakening the East. Rivers liked it and amplified the harm. Now Ogoni is pulling from it, indeed Nigeria. Whoever thought Bayelsa would be shuffling legs in and out of Nigeria? And many more could follow if not addressed, yet the problem remains unsolved. It is: how do we build an equitable and development-oriented society that gives all belonging? Through separation? But the thing that pursued people from Enugu to Port-Harcourt is pursuing them from Port-Harcourt to Bori and will continue to pursue if they don’t pause to ask: what are we doing wrong? Where is our strength? How do we harness them?
One could easily dismiss Asari-Dokubo’s posture as a militant’s blow-out, but his vision and wisdom pose a challenge to all people of foresight. His grasp of history gives him insight into today’s imbalance and his helplessness drives him quick to arms. Hear him: “The Niger Delta people, especially the Ijaws, had an alliance with the north against the Igbos who they perceived as their enemies. The Ijaws, the Efiks and Ishekiris were the leading slave traders. They were the people that controlled the trans-Atlantic slave trade and bulk of the slaves came from the hinterland, the Igbos, the Ibibios, the Anans. So, there was this kind of we-will-get-back-at-you. So, when the administrative capital of the British was moved from Calabar to Enugu, the Igbos got ascendancy over the Efik, the Ijaw and the Ishekiri.
“This is where the problem started. The Ijaws and the Efiks, because of their small population, started to align outside the former Eastern region. The Ijaws aligned with the north…the Efiks supported the Awolowo Action Group. When the civil war came, the Ijaws backed Gowon’s call for one Nigeria. My family supported Biafra. If the Ijaws had supported Biafra, we would not be in the condition that we are today. Chief Clark and Melford Okilo were the pro-northern politicians in Ijaw land. So, if today the north is criticising Chief Clark, it makes people like us to dance because it has turned a full circle.”
Note, this isn’t about Biafra. It’s simply and straightly that Nigeria is reshaping. What the North is doing to the Middle Belt has proved that all North is not equal. The South-west already reads correctly the times and has been holding ‘meetings of eventuality’. Indeed, with their regional integration programme, they hope to lure Edo away from its peers in the South-south. The question is South-south/South-east, where are you? Are you still separating, hoisting flags and seeing villages as countries because of oil? Or do you want to build a strong and purposeful power-block to give your people their right of place? If one is your choice, strip, hands-up and receive your lashes. If two is your choice, then get serious with visiting your differences, sort them out, add your strength and tell Nigeria how you want things to be, then act it out. Starting point, nothing should happen to Jonathan.
What Nigeria is passing through is a redefinition. The peoples now ask: which way, with whom?’ Any block that can’t define itself correctly loses. That’s it.
Source: Business Day
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