I am not an Ibo man, neither am I from any of the major ethnic groups in the country but the struggle of the People of South East of Nigeria for self-actualisation raises a lot of concerns and issues for the rest of the country. It is easy to get army battalions to raid the home of the leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, arrest and detain him for as long as government wants, but such happenings need deeper introspection and reflections by all those in power and Nigerians in general.

Come to think of it. The amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates by the British colonial government under Sir Lord Lugard in 1914 did not in any way say any part of the country should be perpetually enslaved or that minority ethnic groups should be
lesser mortals to those from the majority ethnic enclaves.

Since Independence in 1960, Nigeria and indeed Nigerians have been playing the Cat and mouse game with mutual suspicion and distrust everywhere. This has bred nepotism, religious jingoism and ethnic bigotry, some vices that have not only threatened the peace and unity of this nation to its foundation but has actually led to the prosecution of a civil war when people of the south East threatened to secede from the rest of the country. Then came the Gowon’s declaration of “No victor, no vanquished” and the promise of “Reconciliation, reintegration and reconstruction” of the Government of Nigeria with the people of the South East. What has changed since then?

A few Nigerian elites for obvious reasons have said the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable
and I disagree with them. Nigeria’s unity is negotiable for many reasons:

First , Nigerians trooped out on March 28, 2015 to vote out a party considered to be non-performing, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for bad governance which was characterised by massive corruption and looting of the nation’s treasury, insecurity, underdevelopment among several others.

To bring about the change, millions of citizens with strong determination, went ahead to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the key slogan being change. Nigerians wanted equity, fairness and justice.
Nigerians voted for change so that they can have a country to call their own, where no man is oppressed, where though tribes and tongues may differ, but in brotherhood, we stand. Two years down the road, Nigerians are still surprised at the lopsidedness of government appointments which is in an obvious favour of Hausa Fulani oligarchy. All the key positions in the country today are being occupied by people from one ethnic bloc in a nation with over 300 ethnic nationalities.

Secondly, it was in this country that a group of Northern youths gave quit notice to Igbos to leave the north and threatened to annihilate them at the expiration of their ultimatum on October 1 this year.. The Igbos agitating for Biafra did not give their kit and kin any order to quit the north. The quit notice came from the north. Now, the Inspector General of Police and Governor of Kaduna State Ahmed El-Rufai ordered for their arrest. None of them till today was arrested, instead, Nigerians saw some of the Northern elders coming out to back their quit notice. Months later, the same northern youths came out to say that they have “suspended” the quit notice, not that they have withdrawn it, but that they suspended it, which from my understanding show that the quit order subsists except that it is suspended.

No police, no army has arrested them, yet our unity is said by the same oppressors to be not negotiable and I beg to disagree. Sadly now, it is the man who said he wants to leave the nation to form his own given these injustices that is being pursued and hounded. Come on, who is fooling who here?

Third point. We claim to operate a federal government, this is merely on paper because in reality, we are not. We operate a sort of unitary government. Most zones and groups have been clamouring for genuine fiscal federalism. Some want return to regional government. What reinforces this position is the obvious fact that most states and local governments are not viable. Most of them depend only on oil revenue they share monthly in Abuja. As it stands currently, 52.4 percent of the declared revenue is under the control of the President, while the other 36 governors share 26 percent, which is slightly less than half of what the President spends. This is an aberration in a federal system of government.

This is what has reduced us to more of a consumer nation than producers. This has further cascaded down to the widespread poverty, inequality and conflicts a la Boko Haram, Egbesu Boys, Bakasi boys in the country.

Fourthly, is the issue of devolution of powers to the federating states. There is so much concentration of resources at the centre, that has made the Federal Government so attractive to a citizens that almost everyone is falling over themselves to occupy positions at the federal level. We need to give more resources to the federating states and make the centre as less attractive as possible.

But those benefiting from the status quo do not want these changes and they have all the languages to defend it. When you speak on such issues it is now dubbed “hate speech.”
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If to keep Nigeria one is a duty that must be done, then government must lead by example and move quickly to address issues of marginalization and injustice. Every Nigerian, irrespective of where she or he hails from, must be free to live in any part of the country and must be free to aspire to any position in the land if we have to be one united country.

In one of my articles published in 2015, I had posited that the vote for APC was for a change from bad government to a better government, not northernization of federal government and I recall stating clearly that “If our victory is not properly managed, it would spell doom, not only for the party but for the nation as the South-South and South-East would not fold its arms and watch one zone grab all political positions in the country.” This seems to be playing out with the agitations across the length and breath of the country which some persons think can just be repressed by military might.

President Muhammadu Buhari has a duty to take urgent steps to push for the renegotiation of the country’s unity so as to give confidence and a sense of belonging to all Nigerians irrespective of their status or location. President Buhari should begin to address the clear imbalances in the polity to assuage the people of Southern Nigeria and above all, address the socio-political issues that are still threatening the growth and development of the country in a away and manner that Nigerians both at home and in Diaspora would begin to see and feel the promised change.
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Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State.