14012020 - 50 years after: Let's revisit issues that caused Civil War

@war 50 years after the war
TOMORROW marks the
50th anniversary of the
end of the Nigerian civil war
(1967-1970) but we have
remained locked in lowintensity
warfare ever since
because we are a senseless
country. Our last civil war broke
out over unresolved nationality
question and its most
unfortunate that our fault lines
are more pronounced in
January 2020 than they were in
July 1967 when we started
killing ourselves like the
“enemy tribes” Lord Lugard
once called us.
Cerebral fathers from my neck
of the wood said from the depth
of their wisdom that when a
child falls down, he gets up and
continues the journey without
looking because of lack of
reflection. On the other hand,
an elderly person who falls
down gets up and looks back to
see the cause of the trip so he
can avoid such as he continues.
Nigeria remains the child who
stumbles and gets up without
finding out the cause of the fall
and continues to walk on
carelessly. The truth of the
matter is that there was never a
need for a country like Nigeria.
It is a perfect example of one
disappeared entity Brian Hall
called “The Impossible
Country” (Yugoslavia).
A country is never borders or
infrastructures. It is about unity
of goals which has never been
available around here. It has
always been a perpetual feud
between different nationalities
in the worst clash of civilizations
ever seen around the world.
Anti-colonial
struggle
Something happened in 1953.
A leading light of anti-colonial
struggle and a prominent
member of the Obafemi
Awolowo-led Action Group, AG,
Anthony Enahoro had moved a
motion that Nigeria should
become independent in 1956 at
the Federal parliament. That
motion should have been
unanimously supported by
members of parliament if an
“impossible country” was not
the setting.
Enahoro had said in the
preamble to his motion on the
floor of the Federal House of
Representatives that any
proposal short of full political
independence for Nigeria “has
ceased to be a progressive view
because Nigerian nationalism
has moved forward from that
position”. But in a response that
showed the fault lines of
•Nigeria and the defunct Biafra flags and leaders
Nigerian nationalism in the late
colonial era, Sir Ahmadu Bello
of the Northern Peoples
Congress, NPC, introduced a
dilatory motion substituting the
phrasing “as soon as
practicable” for the year “1956”
proposed by Enahoro.
A negotiated
settlement that
understands
our differences
is the best way
out; its other
name is
federalism
In an undisguised reference
to the superficiality of the
“Nigerian nationalism” which
Enahoro and his Southern
compatriots were lionising,
Bello added: “Sixty years ago,
there was no Nigeria but merely
a collection of communities very
different in outlook and mode
of life”.
The North threatened to leave
Nigeria over the quest for
independence by the South. In
anticipation that the NPC
which had more numbers in the
House was going to win the
vote, the NCNC and AG
members in the House of
Representatives walked out.
The meeting of the House was
adjourned and members of NPC
met very unfriendly crowd in
Lagos who could not
understand why “fellow
Nigerians” would be opposed
to independence.
They were called all sorts of
names before they left for the
North. A retaliatory move by
Northern leaders after the
adjournment on March 31, 1953
self-government motion, came
during the tour of the Northern
Region by the AG led by Chief
S. L. Akintola; it was viewed by
Northerners as an invasion of
another man’s territory. It was
while Akintola and his group
were in Kano that a riot broke
out. Several people lost their
lives while many were
wounded. After the crisis, the
NPC members issued an “eightpoint-programme”
to the
colonial government to the
FEEDBACK
Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14
effect that until their demands
were met, they would not return
to the House in Lagos. The
demands spelt confederacy.
By the time Nigeria became
free in 1960, Awolowo, whose
party moved the motion for
independence in 1953 that was
opposed by the North was
seated among ex-servicemen at
independence dinner and by
1962 was already thrown into
jail.
By 1966, events already
peaked with the first coup on
January 15 led by some junior
officers who were dissatisfied
with the state of the country. The
coup eliminated political
leaders mainly from the North
and West. The dominant
presence of Eastern officers
among the leaders of the coup
made Northern officers to
conclude that the coup was
planned against the North and
they immediately started to
plan a revenge coup which they
staged on July 29, 1966.
Diplomatic
officials
They codenamed the coup
operation “Araba”(Hausa word
for let’s divide it). And for 48
hours after the coup there was
no government in Nigeria as
Northern officers were bent on
pulling out of Nigeria. It took
efforts of American and British
diplomatic officials and the top
of bureaucracy to convince
them to stay within the country.
They initially said they were
going to blow up the Central
Bank of Nigeria when they
were told that the money that
would be used to service their
government if they broke away
was locked in that place. By the
time they agreed to remain in
Nigeria they had destroyed the
army for ever as rank and file
soldiers from the North would
no longer take instruction from
Re: Godwin Obaseki: My man of the year
Dear Yinka,
THANK you for nominating
Governor Obaseki as your
man of the year. I also join you
to nominate Obaseki as my man
of the year 2019 for the reasons
you gave and more.
In your well written article,
you made the following, among
other reasons, for declaring him
as the man of the year.
1. Godfatherism is a form of
political corruption in which an
influential member of the party
climbs to leadership. Permit me
to add that it also ensures that
loyalty of elected members is to
the godfather and not to the
people who elected the godson.
It also ensures that cash
(corruption) is the determinant
of election not votes.
2. You identified the
predatory behaviour of
godfathers in many states in the
country in the last 20 years. (a)
You gave the examples of Chris
Uba and Chris Ngige; (b) The
case of Ladoja and Adedibu
where Ladoja had to “surrender
to the authority of Adedibu to
unseat Lam Adesina in 2003”
at the peak of which crisis
Adedibu boasted on TV thus: “I
asked him (Ladoja) to let us
share his security vote and he
refused. Now, he knows that I
am the major insecurity in the
state”.
3.You argued that the
godfathers have not relented
even when none of them had
had it easy all through as
political office holders
continued to pander to them to
get what they want. This shows
the qualities of these
godfathers;
4. That Governor Godwin
Obaseki who used to be his
political boy is now looking
eyeball to eyeball and is poised
to wrestle him to the ground
with sweat all over him. You
came to the above conclusion
based on Tinubu, Fashola and
Ambode in Lagos State.
I am particularly pleased to
note that the Deputy Governor
of Edo State, Philip Shuaibu,
was reported to have said “our
people have spoken loud and
clear that they believe in
democracy, they just don’t want
to be beneficiaries, they want to
be the drivers of the process.”
Governor Obaseki himself in
JANUARY 14, 2020 — 17
very senior officers from the
South. Brigadier Ogundipe
who was the most senior officer
in the army had a swift dialogue
with his feet. By then the
rebellious officers from the
North had insisted the most
senior among them, Lt-Col
Yakubu Gowon would be the
new Head of State above his
seniors from the South.
Events moved from there until
the Republic of Biafra was
declared and we fought a war
in which millions of lives were
wasted.
As we mark the 50th
anniversary of the “end” of that
war, we are frenetically
manipulating our fault lines
that led to the last civil war; it is
the worst exclusive use of power
that has never been seen in this
country before. Today we have
the three arms of government
headed by core Northerners,
with 15 out of 17 service chiefs
in Nigeria from the North. All
heads of anything that has to
do with money, except the
CBN, are from the North:
Ministry of Finance, Customs,
NPA, FIRS, AMCON, etc.
Once any Fowler is taken out
now, a Nami must replace him.
There are no more pretenses.
It is in-your-face impunity
bordering on extreme
provocations that makes all look
like the immediate pre-1994
days in Rwanda. Can those
behind all we are going through
step back and ask just one
question: where is the coalition
that fought the last war?
The honest answer is that it
has collapsed for ever. The very
reason why nobody should
drive the country to another war
ever again as it would be
decisive and fought on different
fronts with different goals.
A negotiated settlement that
understands our differences is
the best way out. Its other name
is federalism.
the Vanguard of January 3, 2020
said that “my pact with the
citizens of the state is to defend
their interest and to end
godfatherism - which threatens
the democratic right of the
people.”
For the above reasons, I also
“elect” Governor Godwin
Obaseki as my Man of the Year
2019. In the hope that vicechancellors
and professors who
are to conduct elections this year
for office of governors will spare
the people of Edo State what
happened in Ekiti and Osun
with the connivance of the
intelligence and security units
who do not believe in
democracy.
We, the people of Edo State,
will resist as the people in Rivers
did when attempts were made
to make the value of one man,
one vote irrelevant so as to
promote Sharia. As Governor
Obaseki has said, Edo like
Rivers State is a Christian state
and democracy is preferred for
its inclusiveness not
totalitarianism of the alternative.
God bless.
Solomon Asemota, SAN
Benin City .
C
M
Y
K