In 1984, Sonny Okosun, the late African pop musician, released an album he titled, ‘Which way Nigeria?’
Worried about the wrong direction the country was heading to then, the late Oziddi crooner in his lyrics observed that, “Many years after independence we still find it hard to start”. He went further to ask in his song, “How long shall we be patient still we reach the promise land?”
As well, Eedris Abdulkareem, a Nigerian hip pop artiste, bemoaned the ugly situation in the country in his time with his songs titled ‘Nigeria Jaga Jaga’, which was released in 2004, ‘Letter to Mr. President’ released in 2005 to address Olusegun Obasanjo’s criticism of the album, and a sequel to ‘Jaga Jaga’ in January 2012 during the Occupy Nigeria protest against lifting of fuel subsidies.
If Okosun, who died on May 24, 2008 in Washington DC, were to be alive today, he would be dumbfounded by the deadlier direction the country has headed to, especially in the last four years, while the likes of Eedris Abdulkareem have either left the country or are no longer talking because of the overwhelming situation.
Beyond corruption, injustice and poor state of infrastructure across the country, which most musicians and human right activists condemned at one time or the other, the situation in the country has gotten worse with the division of the populace along the deadly ethnic and religious lines.
Now, there is so much distrust among the many ethnic groups, growing suspicions and accusations of secret ethnic agenda, dismantling old alliances and forming new ones believed to favour ethnic agenda, while regional pressure groups are becoming confrontational on ethnic and religious issues.
Moreover, many fingers are pointing to the style of killings across the country, lamenting its religious and ethnic undertone, and condemning the Federal Government’s indifferent attitude to the killings, which they said was the reason for the escalation of insecurity in the country.
Sad over the level of distrust and hatred among the ethnic groups in the country today, Paul Osakwe, a public affairs analyst, said that the notion of a ‘United Nigeria’ is not practicable with the level of injustice, open aggression and lukewarm attitude of the Federal Government on national issues. “The Abiola-Kingibe ticket of 1993 will not happen again because it was a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Again, the Muslims in the country will not allow a Christian-Christian ticket too. So, people have woken up to the realities of the country now than before”, he explained.
Toeing same line, Yakubu Amos, a senior lecturer in a North-East university, said the interests of the minorities in the region and even Christians have never been protected as they are often the usual victims of the unsuspecting attacks.
He said that the hatred is on the rise because as humans, it will be difficult to force someone to love people who killed his/her parents or wipe their village in one night. “If you have lost a family member to an attack by gunmen, kidnappers or herdsmen, you will never like them or their sponsors. That is human nature and you cannot help it”, he said.
Amos noted further that most ethnic nationalities are becoming more conscious of developments in the country than before and are ready to fight for their interests as the Federal Government, in its usual style, may not respond if the ethnic group, state or region is assumed to be opposition.
“You don’t expect ethnic nationalities across the middle-belt, where there have been so many killings, to like you or support any of your projects no matter how germane because you did little or nothing to protect their lives and existence as a people when it mattered most”, he said.
Olumide Adigun, an economist and public affairs analyst, is of the view that the division in the country is on the rise because it is obvious that a particular ethnic group is regarded more than others in a country of many ethnic nationalities, hence people from other groups freely express aggression whenever issues concerning the ‘seemingly favourite’ ethnic group come up.
“If you consider the many condemnations and protests that trailed the proposed RUGA project, even till now, you will discover how much distrust and hatred that is out there. But the truth is that RUGA is not the good roads, quality healthcare and education, affordable housing, stable electricity and security Nigerians need. So, the fact that it carters to the interest of an ethnic group, others will oppose it because they have not seen projects targeted at their ethnic group’s interest”, Adigun said.
Obidike Onuoha, a former legislator from Imo State, decried the fact that the proposed South East Development Bill is still facing challenges at the National Assembly, while the North East Bill sailed through. “If you step down bills from certain regions, the senators, representatives and the people from that region will not be happy with you, especially when the bill will boost development in their region. So, it will become one good turn deserves another and will not augur well for fruitful deliberations among legislators”, Onuoha said.
Speaking on why Nigeria has suddenly become so divided along ethnic and religious lines, which is also fueling hatred and all manner of dissemination of falsehood in society, Onuoha blamed it on the breach of the constitution by the Federal Government and its apparatuses.
“The Nigerian constitution guarantees the equality of the citizens, freedom of speech and expressions, justice for all, as well as, equity upheld by the Federal Character. But in recent times, we have seen people being killed, villages sacked and high level violence by a known group, yet they are not prosecuted.
“I was among the many that condemned the way the present administration abandoned Federal Character in its appointments, though others said the President has the right to do whatever he likes. There has been issues with the fight against corruption, which many think government is using the anti-graft agency to intimidate opposition in spite of running a democratic system.
“You heard about the ugly drama involving a notorious kidnapper in Taraba State, how the army killed three policemen, and set the suspect free to regroup and kidnap more people. In a sane country, the army work in collaboration with the police. In all these, many smell injustice, hence distrust and hatred”, Onuoha said.
For Amos, a government that defeated the incumbent is expected to have huge opposition at least in the first term, but needs to reconcile and even forgive in order to move on and carry everybody along in the development of the country.
“If Mr. President had addressed certain issues in his first term, the insecurity and hatred in the country would not have escalated to this level. The bad eggs in the system took advantage of the lapses and the indifference of the presidency on some national issues to execute their selfish interests, and sadly they have grown out of control now,” Amos said.
Osakwe also points finger at the Federal Government for the level of insecurity in the country today. “While the country was trying to break free from the shackles of the Boko Haram insurgency, the Federal Government should have done anything to quell any violent uprising. If Mr. President orders the herdsmen to behave, they will. If they decline, he can send soldiers to enforce sanity, after all, he did same with IPOB, which was gunning for an interest as well”, Osakwe said.
He thinks that national reconciliation, going back to Federal Character for broader representation in the country and prosecuting killers and other perpetrators of violence in the country will douse the tension and regain people’s trust in the government.
Onuoha advised that the secularity of Nigeria in terms of religion should be spelt out, any form of religious bigotry prosecuted, while the Federal Government should not listen to any attempt to take people’s indigenous land by force.
The analysts believe that Nigerians can live in peace and harmony if the constitution is upheld by every government in power to protect the rights and freedom of the citizens, while the many security agencies should be funded appropriately and retrained to handle modern challenges.
OBINNA EMELIKE
