Writing this piece, one cannot but remember Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, the 29 year-old, who championed the nation’s first military coup d’tat in 1966, along with his colleagues, Majors in the Nigerian Army: Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Timothy Onwuatuegwu, Chris Anuforo, Don Okafor, Adewale Ademoyega and Humphrey Chukwuka.
Why? According to an account recorded by Ademoyega in his book: “Why we struck,” a 194-paged 1981 narrative (I read it in 1988 or so), the young men were embittered by corruption and anarchy resulting from the mismanagement of the nation’s commonwealth by a few.
If only they had seen the future like Nostradamus (Michel de Nostredame, December 1503–2 July 1566), French and reputed seer, as recorded in “the man who saw tomorrow” did. They would have realized that what they saw as nauseating then only foreshadowed what was to befall their beloved country. May be, they should just have allowed the system cleanse itself, rather than helping God take vengeance.
Today, 50 years after Nzeogwu and his Supreme Council of the Revolution, promised “to establish a strong united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife,” our condition as a people has grown worse. Check the offences complained about then and tell me if the situation is not worse today: “Looting, arson, homosexuality, rape, embezzlement, bribery or corruption… sabotage, subversion, false alarms and assistance to foreign invaders.” These and much more happen daily with the knowledge and connivance of those who should prevent or arrest perpetrators.
Political profiteering is today big business, more swindlers, bribes sought today is way above 10%; just as there are “tribalists (and) nepotists,” who seek to keep Nigeria permanently divided, especially along religious and ethnic lines to remain relevant, besides those that make Nigeria look big for nothing before international community, who “have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.”
As an aside, someone recently mooted the idea of establishing the Chartered Institute of Politicians. The members are many, comprising those who have repeatedly changed portfolio since 1999: Commissioner today, SSG tomorrow, governor the next day, senator afterwards, then Federal Minister…
Meanwhile, since that bloody civil war, successive military regimes followed, leading to the 1979 election of President Shehu Shagari, who was sacked on December 31, 1983, via another coup and a rehash of Nzeogwu’s allegations in the Buhari/Idiagbon coup, and those that followed until the 1999 handover by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.
The summary remains that the narrative has not changed. Instead, it is even worse by any standard, while civil strife has become a more recurrent decimal with every tribe accusing the one of marginalisation. For good measure and to blackmail government, the one who feels marginalised takes up arms, forcing Abuja to quickly negotiate for peace. It has been done for the umpteenth time, only look back to recent years.
Just when the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is successfully containing the Boko Haram menace and recovering occupied territories, another group- the Niger Delta Avengers surfaces, and for good measure, has blown up several oil installations, initially swearing that it would not negotiate like those before.
As I noted last week on this column, while one appreciates this decisions to approach the negotiation table, humility and a spirit of compromise must be primary, if only to ensure as the late Sonny Okosun sang many years ago: “let’s save Nigeria, so Nigeria won’t die,” with no one pushing his luck too far.
But, then, I believe government must use this as an opportunity to ensure an all-inclusive discussion involving the representatives from the six geo-political zones, to avoid spending its life span on negotiating with NDA, MEND, MOSSOP, IPOB, OPC, Boko Haram and other militant groups that shows up, afterwards. This government and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) must swallow its pride and perhaps take another look at the report of the 2014 National Conference (which after all was prosecuted with our money), harvest whatever sense it contains, discarding those considered useless.
Beyond all of these and as promised during the electioneering days, this government must urgently begin the process of restructuring Nigeria into a true federation and engender creativity in leadership at the states’ level where each is in healthy competition, while cooperating as the governments of Kebbi and Lagos recently started. The Federal Government is talking of another N90bn bailout package for the states after the N689.5bn doled out last year, when 27 states made requests for funds and 23 received help. One only wonders how long the bazaar (call it national cake if you like) would last as the sub-nationals surrender what is left of their pride to the centre.
But then, how long will we wait for a truly Federal Republic of Nigeria with a single digit poverty prevalence ratio and unemployment rate; a time when government no longer takes Nigerians for fools, or foreigners use us as mere tools… our kinsmen feel proud to identify with their motherland? Will President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC deliver on these or take them as mere noise on the streets?
Last line: If only Nzeogwu and co could see Nigeria today, they would realize that as Fela Anikulapo sang years ago: “corruption… inflation… mismanagement… stealing by government… na old newsu be that… the problem still dey paparanpa…” Just imagine, this government says it has recovered almost N3trn, half of the 2016 budget of Nigeria’s stolen funds in one year, enough to replace lost oil revenue, resulting from price slump and activities of militants. Even generals who allegedly had their hands in the till were fired last week.
(Today.ng)