The Nigerian project: Rigged to fail

By Joseph Edgar…

This weekend, I have been watching a documentary on the Nigerian project from 1960 till date. The documentary starts from the gaining of independence through the coups, civil war and terminates with the current administration. I am at the Second Republic where Fela Anikulapo Kuti that mega musician was railing against the government of the day.

So far I have come to the realization that the issues which turned us immediately from an example of a sweet democratic project into a macabre orgy of violence from the first coup to the civil war and a series of coups toppling Gowon and Murtala Mohammed are still very much with us. Greed, tribalism, corruption and avarice are still with us. These issues ignited the first civil war and are beginning to push us towards the same road to Golgotha.

The first Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello in a very instructive interview in the documentary when asked why he was pushing the Northernization policy in his region despite the much touted unity of the country, simply asked if there were any Northerners being employed in the southern regions.

So you see why he had to retaliate by ensuring that only northerners were employed, and where they could not find qualified Northerners, they would rather go for expatriates instead of fellow Nigerians.

When he was further asked why he was so much against the Igbo man, his response was very instructive. To him and his fellow travelers, the Igbo man was too ambitious, wanting to be the leader and in front. He illustrated this by saying that if an Igbo man was in a labour camp as a laborer within a short space of time he would end up being the leader and that is why he had to be stopped.

These sentiments about the Igbo man still persists in today’s Nigeria hence the continued agitation for Biafra. This documentary especially this section has really gone ahead to answer this question that has been nibbling on my mind for sometime now. Why is the Igbo man such a junior partner in this enterprise, why is he so treated and why have their own leaders even turned against them. Sir, Ahmadu Bello gave me the answer, they must be stopped otherwise they will lead and subjugate the rest of us.

This sentiment was very primitive and laughable but led to the massacre of igbos in the North and further culminated into the 30 month civil war where millions of lives were lost.

My pain is that today, we still have leaders who played key roles in those heady and rough days still commanding the heights of leadership in Nigeria. Their parochial and poorly thought out policies still rule us. The same people since 1960 have continued to play very pivotal roles in our country still carrying out such parochial policies as enunciated by the late Sarduana with the same devastating effect to national unity and bonding.

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They were there from independence and are still here even in this period of ‘change’. The same actors tutored in the narrow prisms of tribalism, corruption and negritude still guide them as they take decisions that affect our lives and this has brought me to the pitiable conclusion that we will only find true statehood and nationhood when these people leave the stage or even die.

Let me illustrate, in those days, you would never be allowed to marry outside your tribe. Your parents will be citing all sort of parochial reasons for you not to go ahead with that marriage. But as an educated and enlightened person, you rebuff that pressure and go ahead and marry outside of your tribe with your parents very reluctantly give their support feeling very ashamed that their son or daugther has gone to marry, ‘yamiri’ or ‘koboko’ or ‘ajeokuta ma mo mi’ or an ‘aboki’. Can you imagine if the son unfortunately dies and the child is now left with the grandparents to choose a bride, the parochial and narrow minded schisms that permeates the lives of the grandparents will show again. This is the wahala with us.

The first generation of leaders were never nationally focussed but were encouraged by the British to look first at their regions before the whole country. Resources and appointments were to be shared intra regionally and tribally and the sons of these first leaders and indeed some of these leaders are still with us hence our continued backwardness.

So the question now is, how do we purge ourselves from these people? How do we kick them out of national politics? How do we extend the co-mingling that we have achieved as youths in the social and economic areas into our political lives? How do we see ourselves as brothers working together in unity to solve our hydra headed problems?
I recommend we go watch this documentary. You will see all the actors there from Gowon to OBJ through T.Y. Danjuma, IBB, Buhari and all. We need a resurgence, a new leadership, free from our diabolical past covered with the fresh mist of warmness and tog.

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