#Bring Back Our Country

It is so easy to get entangled in matters whose origins are not well understood or appear foggy. This is because nearly all the time, machinations, mindless falsehood and all kinds of conjecture predate crisis. It explains the avalanche of venom poured out on the government of Nigeria in the social media as many are unduly emotional about the myriad of problems besetting the nation, compounded lately by the Chibok girls’ saga, without having their basic or background facts, a clear case of putting the cart before the horse. We live however, in a world of cause and effect, sowing and reaping, life and death, hardly is anything inconsequential because it is always tied to something else. 

Nigeria’s problems stem from the crookedness in the creation of states. It was bad, but not terrible for Gowon to create 12 states, equating north and south, 6 states apiece, even though previously they were comprised of one region and 3 regions respectively. However, Murtala who purged the civil service to its foundations distorted the balance by creating 19 states and oddly the north clinched 10 states as against 9 in the south, erroneously on the strength of landmass. 

As devious as this development was, the implication seemed not so obvious even to the enlightened, as quota system and federal character formed the basis for undue advantage by the Arewa. Why then is Texas which is about 40 times the size of New Jersey in America not fragmented into several more states? It is high time unviable states with contiguous boundaries in the north merged.  If we are all agreed that the North is lagging behind in literacy, how come they populate government concerns whether the civil service, the military, the national assembly and so on, majority with forged or underrated certificates, doing damage?  

We must not view lightly the undercurrents that led to the civil war nor downplay the salient contentions that motivated the Gideon Orkar coup attempt in which some northern states were purportedly expelled from the Nigerian federation, in fact we need full details as to why extremism plays out each time a southerner clinches the mantle of leadership, Ironsi’s assasination, annulment of a fairly conducted June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Abiola, the Shonekan overthrow, sharia adoption to constrict Obasanjo and the current travails of Jonathan are few examples.

It is not cool to exploit religion and yet deny it, neither is it fair to dubiously dominate the polity and feign ignorance. Does it not seem odd that all the states of Nigeria were created by military dictators from the north; [Gowon 12, Murtala 19, Babangida 30, Abacha 36] and instructively, the south from its three legitimate regions now has 17 states as against the one northern region that now parades 19 states plus Abuja?

Do we honestly believe there is no correlation between states that have adopted Sharia and the Boko Haram menace in this otherwise multi-religious country? Obasanjo did not demonstrate leadership in the sharia affront during his presidency, I dare say he was timid and not for the first time. Despite his posturing to the contrary, were it not for cowards like Obasanjo who love vain glory, the story could have been different. Opportunities for him to fix Nigeria were rather frittered away on pettiness, corruption and a plethora of meaningless squabbles. Whereas he did not as much as create a state, he was eager to lose Bakassi peninsula to Cameroun. 

Following from this can we blame the northern hardliners who reject regional autonomy, additional state for the south east geopolitical zone, resource control, state police, merit based appointments, biometrics data regime, June 12 recognition and other reforms?

It is about time the northern leadership reappraised its cloggy antecedents and rapprochements to the Nigerian project as clearly we cannot further accommodate its lousy insistence on dominance merely for the sake of it. It takes exception to beauty pageants, so riot breaks out; for contesting the lopsided local government councils as being dubious in its favour or challenging its population data, the heavens must fall. Gowon must be dazed at what has become a muslim north where the emasculation of Christians is now an elixir.

Again, why should Sokoto state build a university when its challenge is foundational at the level of Almajari? Any wonder there are misfits in the academia. If Awolowo, Mandela and Malcom X studied by correspondence, what exactly is the argument about scanty laboratories and libraries, besides other amenities being a setback to academic excellence, necessitating a long strike as we recently undertook? Today, the internet does far more than the classroom and indeed a phone is capable of unlimited options, not to talk of the Ipad or good old Laptop. 

I am yet to come to terms with the logic of nomadic education, a policy that seems indicative of money sharing, as I still have not seen one such graduate. For goodness sake people make sacrifice and go to school at old age if they are keen; Nomads are not a special breed. I dare ASUU to embark on strike over discriminatory JAMB cut off marks, a situation whereby in Lagos it is 270 whereas it is 130 in Jigawa, is not progressive by any stretch of the imagination. 

On Merit let us stand, that’s how Obama got to the White House. Enough of appeasing the North, we can do with a showdown to bring back our country. For those who have taken to criticism of the central government as a vocation, I imagine they were asleep when the dubious arrangement that has brought about this scandalous level of wastage and decay was foisted on us by one sector and section of Nigeria. 

Unless we wish that a southerner in the military should seize power and attempt to correct these many infractions on the country, I do not see how reasonable men from northern Nigeria can admit to their error nor agree to amelioration, least of all lose out on the power advantage. With the caliber of northern elite whether serving or erstwhile governors, senators, ministers, diplomats, the academia, military and para-military chiefs making subversive statements and cuddling greed like in the lopsided oil blocks’ ownership, a tender approach to resolving this hydra-headed problem is unlikely to yield result. Where exactly did they learn that Allah supports injustice?

Martins Lomba

martinslomba@hotmail.com

08033053649