The rhetoric is not plunging into a
diminuendo, and the shrieks are not shuttered into a decrescendo...
You
can hear the brash and bumptious bawls from every ethnic enclave in
Nigeria. The fustian of war is getting harsher, louder, and meaner; and
mongers aren’t ready to dial it down. On the one hand is a diminished
but determined platoon of angry men and women who want out of a Nigerian
arrangement they say is unfair and inequitable. On the other is the
python lured out of its holed-up habitat by the surreal music of the
platoon. And the python, who desperately wants to dance says “I am non-venomous; I don’t attack humans unless provoked; and I only dance when maddening music is played”.
But the python, even as a pet, is a cold-blooded killer. It strikes and
squeezes its preys until they stop breathing. It doesn’t strike and
dump its preys on the curbside, it strikes and swallows them in one
piece. Terrifying times these are in Nigeria.
I possess not the gravitas to cage the
python from dancing, I only write for a living and serve God on His
altar. And I offer not to stop the surreal music luring the beast out
of its hole into adaring dance; this is above my pay grade. But must the
surreal music keep playing? Must the python struts on dancing, and we
stand arms akimbo? God forbid! I stand on this side of the aisle
praying for reason and wisdom to prevail. That’s my place and assignment
in life.
Nigeria has been fighting many wars
since 1914. Leave Boko Haram alone for one moment; wars against hunger,
poverty, illiteracy, hopelessness are still ongoing with no triumph
recorded. Now, an insatiable craving for another one? Our minds must be
sound, Nigerians. A majority of the citizenry want Nigeria to work
without war. Those who thirst for a balkanisation of the country are
simply frustrated that the system is unfair to them. The American civil
war was fought not just because of slavery, but because slavery was a
means of livelihood stripped away from powerful men. Papua New Guinea
fought a 10-year civil war because of livelihood stripped away from a
group of people. When you mess with a man’s livelihood, he will fight.
It gets more intolerable when you strip off his dignity.
You can suppress insurrections and
agitations with guns, tanks, and bombs, but you cannot kill the zeal and
zest in a people who feel shackled by despair, hunger, hopelessness,
and poverty in their own country. If the status quo of lopsidedness
continues in Nigeria, the war we loathe so much will one day find its
way barreling out.
Biafra is an ideology bigger than one
man. Nnamdi Kanu’s feet are too small for Biafra shoes. It is why
prominent Igbo sons and daughters among them South-Eastern governors are
backing out; it is why the Igbo in parts of the South-South region
aren’t signing on; and it is why I am sure that Kanu’s canoe of
confusion will eventually capsize. But mark you, voices of those
chanting for fairness and justice will not be drowned, Biafra will not
die in the hearts and minds of the Igbo until inequity, unfairness, and
injustice die in Nigeria. Oodua will not die in the hearts and minds of
the Yoruba until hunger, poverty, and hopelessness die in the lives of
the people. Agitations for self-determination will never die in Nigeria
until there is a clear understanding that restructuring of the country
is not just a media jingle or campaign slogan, it is a commonsense
requisite tweak that is now the only available solution to Nigeria’s
many ills. The system we work now has not worked. Only insane people
will keep doing the same thing expecting a magic wand waved from El
Dorado in pursuit of a different result. President Muhammadu Buhari
must not kick the can down the road; a renewed dialogue and negotiation
in that direction must begin NOW.
There are times that wars are
inevitable. You must fight if it becomes the last resort. But wars are
not just fought with men, munitions and messages only. They are with
wisdom. Whoever fights a war foolishly will die foolishly. Those who are
opting for the path of war to resolve issues may have their reasons.
Those who don’t want war aren’t cowards or stupid either. For those who
want out of this present Nigerian arrangement, Nigeria and the world
hear you. But for those who want war as a way of getting out, hear me
out too.
The rich man sponsoring the war knows
its effects; but the poor; because of deprivations and life of
sufferings he lives doesn’t care to know what war will bring. But we
will continue to sing it aloud to those who want war to sit back and
count the cost. Vitriolic proponents and advocates of war only give
commands and instructions; they don’t fight in times of battles. Little
people, indigents, impoverished, pauperised, cheated, desecrated,
deceived, manipulated, robbed, ravaged, and demeaned poor are coerced
and coaxed to fight in wars that will eviscerate them and their lineages
from the face of the earth. It’s been reported that Kanu is in hiding
from the furious dance of the python. Eventually, he may escape and flee
to England. But very many young, unemployed, and hungry boys and girls
have already lost their lives. That is what happens in wars. Rich
people escape; poor people die. After every war, take your time to sit
down and count the casualties. Rich people and their children are never
numbered therein. Rich people have their lineages shielded in the
comfort of western countries; poor people’s lineages are wiped off
forever.
After the war, contracts to rebuild,
and positions of power to govern are allotted to the rich and their
loved ones. But the surviving poor whose family members had been killed
will continue to fight in a war for liberty, equity, and fairness in the
hands of the rich in power. Call me a coward; and I’ll be at peace
with the titular conferment. But, I’ll rather be a part of the dialogue
for peace than remain an advocate for war and bloodshed. It’s a legacy I
will like to leave behind when my time is up. War is brutal; and in
all, there are no winners or losers. Everybody receives a big brutal
bite. Its mark is there for life!
I rise again on this day to render my
voice to heaven on behalf of Nigeria. That what keeps the country
together shall be strengthened; what keeps Nigeria further apart shall
be weakened. Men and women with evil agenda in Nigeria will be
displaced; and men with heart of togetherness will replace them. I
rebuke every bloodletting; and I make my voice strong against peddlers
of rumours of war that God will cause them to cease and desist. Nigeria
must stand. Her people will become stronger. The economy will get
better. Peace will reign. Joy will flow. Those in leadership pillaging
the people to frustration and disenchantment will be disgraced. Evil
plans and policies impoverishing helpless men and women, young people
and the old will be tossed into the fiery furnace. Whatever and whoever
are standing against Nigeria will fall.
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