By Emmanuel Onwubiko
Mathematically, Nigeria is said to be 59 years of
post-independence in the sense that it was on October 1st 1960
that some foreign occupying forces (Great Britain) retreated by general
consensus of both the occupier and the occupied.
It was on that day that political scholars reckon that
Nigeria gained flag independence with the lowering of the Elizabethan or rather
the union Jack which is the baptismal name of the British flag.
As an aside but certainly critical, do you know that the
first mistake those who received the flag independence made was not to have
baptized our National flag? The Nigerian Flag unlike its progenitor is nameless
but embodies symbolism.
That aside, another gross error of judgment made at
independence was the short sightedness in not renegotiating the terms of the
union which was consummated in 1914 when the southern protectorate was unified
with the Northern protectorate in what political historians chose to call
amalgamation.
From the sketch of historical accounts, it doesn’t
appear that the amalgamation agenda was borne out of a genuine national
consensus but was rather a business idea by the British colonialists to
maximize their drive for more natural and human resources to enrich their local
economies and precisely their agro allied industry. For instance, most
Nigerians are not aware of who were the witnesses at the so called amalgamation
of 1914 or was our head shaved in our absence? Why there are no known
indigenous witnesses to the signing of the amalgamation treaty or was it purely
a British affair?
The secrecy surrounding this 1914 amalgamation looks
like a conspiracy of the British to maximize their drive for natural resources
from all parts of Nigeria and to stop any incursion by other foreign force
This mistake of history by our 'heroes past' to
renegotiate our union or to at least brainstorm on the necessity or otherwise
of the continuous existence of Nigeria as an entity or otherwise, still hobbles
Nigeria and is the fundamental source of the groundswell of disagreements and
discontents amongst the divergent segments of the contemporary Nigerian
society. This is the origin of the current agitation for self-determination
and/or restructuring. Still dwelling on the fundamental symbolism of the 1960 independence,
let us revisit the National flag of Nigeria and examine its import and
philosophy.
First, we note that the symbolic meaning of the green,
white, green flag with vertical stripes represent Nigeria’s natural wealth,
while the white band represent peace.
However, as Nigeria has become a grown adult at 59, it
is safe to state that those two symbols of natural resources and peace have
eluded the millions of Nigerians who have now become endangered species, deprived,
oppressed, marginalized and made vulnerable by the government whose legal
mandate is to guarantor safety of lives and property of the citizens.
The natural resources of Nigeria have become like curses
on corporate Nigeria even as peace is an illusion.
One British journalist who spent four decades covering
the energy sector in Africa, wrote a big book he chose to call crude continent,
in which he narrated how the discovery of rich natural resources of crude oil
in Nigeria, as well as few other African nations, sparked off serial corruption
on the part of African leaders. As I write, the communities whereby these huge
natural resources are found are impoverished, their environments devastated,
raped, polluted and regularly vandalized by multinationals with the government
as a necessary collaborator. The people of Niger Delta are today facing social
injustices the scale that is unfathomable but yet their backyards are the
habitation for much of the National wealth which only less than 1 % of
Nigerians made up of politicians and their surrogates share amongst themselves.
Not long ago, anyway the United Nations office on drugs
and crime (UNODC) made a presentation in which it estimated that as at a decade
ago, nearly $400 billion of Nigeria’s crude oil revenues have all been stolen
by successive political and military leadership of the Nigerian state.
Take for instance, one of the most brutal dictators to
have graced Nigeria as a military despot stole nearly $5 billion which was
found in few of his many unknown accounts and this late dictator, General Sani
Abacha, successfully hid these massive quantum of cash in foreign jurisdiction
at the time Nigeria was a pariah state under different global wide sanctions.
You can then imagine how much would have been stolen by governments of Nigeria
under the periods that the country is not under any form of sanctions including
now that the country is marking 59th year of independence.
Just look at who is 59 but still her citizens are so
poor, endangered and buffeted by all kinds of bloody violence whilst the
government in place look the other way whilst Fulani bandits, armed kidnappers,
terrorists have continued to unleash devastating violence on the public space
with countless casualties.
Ideally, a child who is 15 years of age is no longer
looked upon as a child, and so you wonder why at 59, Nigeria is such a very
dangerous place, made so by incompetent political leaders and a whole lot of
uncharismatic followers who do not bother to press on for the protection and
respect of the constitutionally guaranteed human rights which are enshrined in
chapter 4 of the Nigerian constitution.
This constitution which is a sacred code of conduct is
currently defecated upon by those who wield temporary political power.
These politicians violate the constitutional rights of
citizens with impunity.
Politicians treat the citizens as if they do not matter
in the national calculations.
But reading the latest book by Michelle Obama called
“Becoming” will prove the statement that a 59 year old adult must behave well
because even at the age of 15, Michelle who would go on to become America’s 44th first
lady and wife of USA president number 44, Mr. Barack Obama, was looked upon as
an adult.
She wrote as follows: “BY THE TIME I was fourteen, I
basically thought of myself as half a grown-up anyway – maybe even as
two-thirds of a grown-up. I’d gotten my period, which I announced immediately
and with huge excitement to everyone in the house, because that was just the
kind of household we had. I’d graduated from a training bra to one that looked
vaguely more womanly, which also thrilled me. Instead of coming home for lunch,
I now ate with my classmates in Mr. Bennett’s room at school. Instead of
dropping in at Southside’s house on Saturdays to listen to his jazz records and
play with Rex, I rode my bike right past, headed east to the bungalow on
Oglesby Avenue where the Gore sisters lived.”
The question we need to answer is why at 59, the
Nigerian state and her over-spoilt political elite still behaves like a toddler
going by the crude type of political leadership in place?
The straight forward answer is the general lack of will
power by the citizens to stand by their rights as provided for generously in
chapter 4 of the 1999 constitution and the willingness of the people to be
oppressed by the same persons they elect to govern.
I will not hesitate to state that although as at 1982 or
thereabout when the intellectual oracle from the black world Professor Chinua
Achebe wrote his smallest book called “The Trouble with Nigeria”, it can be
argued that basically the fundamental crisis of underdevelopment of Nigeria was
caused by poor leadership.
Here is what Professor Achebe wrote: “The trouble with
Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing wrong
with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The
Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to
the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the
hallmarks of true leadership.”
But fast forward to 2019, Nigeria’s problem is both poor
leadership and lethargic followership.
Take for instance, in 2015, during the general elections
as well as the 2019 polls, majority of voters succumbed to the temptation of
mortgaging their consciences for bags of salt, rice, wrappers, and few cash
which were freely distributed to would-be voters by those seeking the mandate
of the people. Also, at 59 Nigeria have the World's most incompetent electoral
commission and the World's most compromised electoral and judicial systems that
aid heist of ballots during elections in favour of any incumbent President
vying for re-election.
Any wonder then that Nigeria at 59 is almost behaving
like a failed state?
Now some governors negotiate with armed bandits and mass
killers.
Today, the Federal government goes about freeing
detained boko haram terrorists and even reintegrating them to live eye ball to
eye ball in the same communities whereby they committed genocide, all in the
guise that they have repented. Victims of these heinous crimes are marginalized
and overlooked whilst the criminals are glamourized and celebrated by
politicians. Just look at who is 59!
These are constitutional violations. But the political
leadership of the 59 year old sovereign nation sees nothing unethical or
criminal when they wined and dined with armed bandits. The abnormal has
been normalized by the political class who as we speak are drinking themselves
to stupor with expensive champagne and strong wines even as 90 million Nigerian
citizens have become absolutely poor with the 59 year old Nation becoming the
poverty capital of the World only last year.
As earlier stated, the primary issue of lack of a
national consensus as the basis for our unity still haunts us like a ghost.
Nigeria at 59 needs to work out strategies for
restructuring to fix the broken society and to make all component parts to
truly have a sense of belonging.
Just look at who is 59! Yet all the top national
security heads are from one section of Nigeria and are all moslems.
This distorted and sectional formation of national
security team violates the Federal character principle as contained in the
constitution which I will cite shortly just as the incapacity of government to
safeguard the lives of Nigerians constitutes serious breach of the constitution.
Specifically, section 14(1) (2) (3) state that: “(1) The
Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of
democracy and social justice.” (2) It is hereby, accordingly, declared that:
(a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through
this Constitution derives all its powers and authority; (b) the security and
welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government: and (c) the
participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance
with the provisions of this Constitution. (3) The composition of the Government
of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall
be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria
and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty,
thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few
State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in
any of its agencies.”
As Nigeria marks 59 of failed promises and aspirations,
let the people resolve to become resilient and to consistently demand
accountability from the politicians notwithstanding the clear threats to their
lives by armed security forces manipulated by the elites to kill the people who
would resist their oppressive and tyrannical tendencies.
We must repossess the nation by insisting on the
obedience of the constitution and the strengthening of the institutions of
democracy. Let us say no to the EVOLUTION OF A STRONG MAN AS NIGERIA'S
PRESIDENT BUT TO WORK TOWARDS ESTABLISHMENT OF STRONG AND ENDURING DEMOCRATIC
INSTITUTIONS. Fellow Nigerians it is a mournful independence anniversary.
*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers
Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www
