26012020 - How bad an example was set in Zamfara

PAGE 24 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 26, 2020
It’s been 50 years since the Nigeria civil
war ended. What is your take on the
subject matter, ‘Never Again?’
Well, I have a personal experience with the
civil war. I was 16 years old and I lived in
Gboko, Benue State at the beginning of the
war. The war started in Benue. Nigerian troops
entered Biafra territory through Benue, my
community as a matter of fact and soldiers
were stationed in Makurdi and Gboko
principally because yo can enter northern
Cross River State from Gboko, so I saw it. But
more than that, there was a build-up to that
war. In that build-up, there were some issues.
There were riots in then-Western Nigeria
and the present day Benue State.
There was a controversial census
in 1963 and the boycott of the 1964
general elections by the East which
produced the government. The
build-up to the 1966 coup had to do
with certain issues that probably even
predated independence; maybe some people
felt that the way government was formed after
independence and even after the 1964
elections was not satisfactory. Crisis
sometimes do not happen overnight. There is
a build-up and if you do not manage that buildup
very well, crisis can explode into something
that is not good for the society. So, we had the
1966 coup. There was a pattern of that coup
that some people suggest was responsible for
a counter-coup against the Igbo, and that led
to the decision by then-governor of Eastern
Region, Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-
Ojukwu to take the region out of Nigeria. Of
course, there was some attempt at a
conference in Aburi. So we had the civil war
which started from the federal side as police
action. But after a while, it became civil
war. And when we talked about lessons
learned, if what led to that war was a
problem of the national question, maybe
we have not done enough to address that
question.
But the other point is also that in a
country of more than 600 ethnic groups,
when you talk about justice, fairness and
equity, it must apply to all, not just one
particular group. To some of us who
are nationalists, therefore, all ethnic
nationalities in Nigeria are entitled to
fairness, equity and justice.
In your own estimation, do you
think those things have been well
addressed?
Well, in measures. For example,
when then-Head of State, General
Yakubu Gowon, created 12 states
at the beginning of the war, he
seemed to have addressed the
agitation for creation of more
regions. You know we started
our Nigerian federation
with three regions but, by
1963, we had the
Midwest Region
created out of Western
Region but there were
agitations for more
states. In northern
Nigeria, there was
agitation for a region
in the north-east
spearheaded by the
Borno Youth Movement and there was also
an agitation in the middle-belt region
spearheaded by the United Middle-Belt
Congress. And in the Eastern Region, you had
agitation for Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers Region.
But, more than that, when we had
constitutional government under military rule
in 1979, there was an attempt to introduce
into our Constitution certain principles like
the federal character principle. Some people
said that principle attempts to address
lopsided representation in national
governance but it also has the tendency to shortchange
competition. That is an argument
which persists. I think that agitation continues
for greater equity, greater fairness and greater
justice in Nigeria and one can see where that
is reasonable because there have been
questions of fiscal federalism for example:
what happens to the resources of Nigeria? Do
we have too much of those federally generated
or appropriated resources going to the Federal
Government? I believe we can give more
resources to states and local governments.
How far are we implementing federal
character? Maybe attempts at
implementation have not been good enough;
so there are all these questions. But injustice is
not something that can be said to be meted
out to only one section of the country. I don’t
want to talk about my community. We have
done a lot for this country but they pretend as
if we don’t exist or they think we don’t have the
capacity to threaten secession. But people from
my community, about 60% of them, fought
the civil on behalf of Nigeria but people
pretend that that sacrifice is not important.
We are nothing.
Looking at the Aburi Accord that eventually
failed and other issues that culminated into
the civil war; would you say Ojukwu was
right in calling for that secession?
I saw an opinion piece written by an Igbo
person blaming Ojukwu for not listening to
Zik among others. He said Ojukwu was
possibly so upset with the killing of the Igbo in
other parts of Nigeria and how the crisis turned
out to be that he was not rational at that time.
I like to put myself in his shoes and wonder
what I would have done; it is
very difficult to suggest that
somebody would have been
rational with those things that
happened and I think whatever
it was that started those things,
it is possible that they could also
go overboard. I think the
counter-coup was probably a
military thing. So, if it was a
military affair, maybe it was
enough but now spilling over
to the communities and the
massacre of people was ugly.
•Professor Yima Sen
The Igbo still feel shortchanged
in Nigeria 50 years
after the war. Can that be
justified?
This idea has been
sensationalized. War is not
good and when a war ends and
you lose, you cannot celebrate.
I want to give an example. The
bombing of Nagasaki and
Hiroshima remains a problem
in Japan up till today. There
are the effects of those bombs
as we speak. Germans lost the
First World War and they were very badly
treated by the victors. They were made to pay
reparations for losing the war and, because of
that maltreatment, Hitler led Germans into
the Second World War and that Second World
War was even worse than the First World War
for Germany, Italy and Japan. Although
Germany is a very strong economy in Europe
and has very industrious people, they are very
accomplished people. If you look at the five
decision makers for peace and security
I think that we
should be
able to
convert some
of these
things which
are seen as
threats into
issues for
national
development
matters in the world, I am talking about the
permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council (US, UK, France, Russia and
China), those are the mates of Germany in the
world. Germany should be there but they are
not. The UN system emerged
after WW II. After the civil war
in the United States, the
southern part of the America
did not produce a President
until the Jimmy Carter
presidency. During the first Gulf
War, Iraq invaded Kuwait and
some allies from the West
attacked Iraq. Iraq withdrew
from Kuwait but those who
attacked Iraq from the West
were not satisfied and there was
a second Gulf War and Iraq was
virtually destroyed and the
leader, Sadam Hussein, killed.
Iraq has not recovered from the
war. What I am saying is that
war is not nice but I think
Gowon
deserves
commendation for his three Rs
(Reconciliation, Rehabilitation
and Reconstruction) and the
‘no victor, no vanquished’
principle.
But have the Igbo actually
been properly reintegrated?
I know that some military
officers from the Biafra side were reintegrated
into the Nigerian armed forces. I know that in
some communities, certain people who left
their properties came back and people gave
the properties back to them then they came
back. And during the first democratically
constituted government of Nigeria after the
civil war, an Igbo person (Alex Ekwueme) was
the number two person in government and he
was most likely going to succeed President
Shehu Shagari.
2023:
Specifically, what did you take away from the
gathering of ‘Never Again’ in Lagos?
What I took away from the gathering in Lagos
was a sobering of reflection on the war. Of course,
there were one or two emotional voices but I was
impressed with some of the main contributors who
were calling for reasoning but one of them talked
about wars in history and this was an Igbo person
and how nasty they have been to people who were
defeated. One should never call the aftermath of a
war as good but, to an extent, it has been because
people are vindictive. Germany has not recovered
from the two World Wars.
The South-West just came up with Amotekun, a
regional security network, to police their
environment. There has been this debate as to
whether it is legal or not. Is it a thing to be
commended?
I will answer that question like an ordinary person
who is concerned about security all over Nigeria,
not just in any part of Nigeria. If you look at the
North-East, they have had to employ hunters to assist
the armed forces to deal with Boko Haram. The
question is who are these hunters? There have been
all sorts of vigilante groups around Nigeria. Why
do we need vigilante groups? There are countries
across the world where you hardly need policing;
you can just go about your businesses and not be
afraid of crime. The level of insecurity in Nigeria
today has reached a level where if people engage in
self-help, you cannot blame them. Insecurity is no
respecter of ethnicity or religion. I know of Fulani
men who have been kidnapped by Fulani bandits
in the bush and they are not interested in your
religious or ethnic pleadings. So, if a community
says “look, we can police our community” and if
what they are doing is within the law or the
Constitution, I am not opposed to that kind of
arrangement.
But the Federal Government through the
Attorney General has declared it illegal?
Well, I don’t know. I am not a member of the Federal