By Anthony Chuka Konwea, P.E.
“When feudalists and predators fight, unity, peace and justice take flight.”
- This writer’s take on the current situation in Nigeria.
Credits for base map: www.world-gazetteer.com
The current political jostle in Nigeria goes far beyond politics. What is playing out is a deep seated socio-economic battle and a politico-cultural clash between two irreconcilable tendencies. Call it a clash of ideologies if you will. However you choose to describe it, a deep ideological gash roughly parallel to Nigeria’s major geographical diagonal is developing.
It is becoming increasingly evident that Nigeria is being gradually partitioned into two mutually antagonistic parts divided by an imaginary arc of antipathy. The core ideological reasons for this partitioning differ from point to point, and from location to location, yet taken to the limits the end results remain the same – an ideological rift valley has emerged.
At some locations, the reason for belonging to one side and not to the other has to do with perceived marginalization and eagerness for self-determination. At some other points it has to do with religion i.e. with being either Christian or Muslim. At still other points it has to do with countering expansionist threats and ethnic cleansing. Yet at other points it has to do with resource control. Finally at some points it has to do with perceived ethnic rivalries and petty ethnic jealousies.
Effectively the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) by its own actions or inactions in power is correctly being stereotyped as the party of feudalists while the recently ousted Peoples Democratic Party by its own excesses while in power has long since been stereotyped in popular consciousness as the party of swashbuckling buccaneers or predators.
The Feudalists
The core feudalist ideology is that all men are not born equal before God and man. Feudalists believe in a strict ethnic ranking or caste system with themselves at the head of the file. They want to have the choice pickings of every good thing that comes to the State while other less fortunate citizens must make do with the bones and scraps that fall off from their table. Note that this is a complete assault on human dignity and a wholesome negation of the tenets of modern republicanism.
Feudalists are imbued with a strong sense of entitlement and a false sense of superiority not borne out by any known index of human assessment. They erroneously assume that they know better about anything worthwhile than anybody else. They believe that what they do not know is not really worth knowing and should be left to the so-called inferior persons or ethnicities.
In spite of their bloated sense of self-importance, feudalists know relatively little about many things not because they do not possess comparable intelligence as others but because their pride, ego and sense of entitlement dissuades them from undertaking the servile exertion necessary and inevitable for the acquisition of knowledge and technical know-how. They tend to favor state ownership and control of assets such as land, resources, institutions and organizations.
It is this sense of entitlement that makes Feudalists stray into foreign territory and assume equal or greater ownership rights over the land and its resources than even the native born indigenes they met on arrival. Wily, cunning and masters of manipulation and suppression, Feudalists will leave no stone unturned to secure political power. Once in power they turn a blind eye to injustices committed by their ilk against their fellow men and women and will use all schemes known to man to further their feudal group interests.
Although they pretend to be great patriots, Feudalists are highly unpatriotic. Their loyalty is almost exclusive to their own group interests and to their own kinsmen. They claim to be honest and incorruptible only because they do not out-rightly enrich themselves. When you subject that claim to a critical test however you discover that it is unproven since they steal from the State to enrich their own group and kindred. Masters of propaganda and manipulation, they concede one part only to take back four parts while extolling their own magnanimity to the high heavens with loud trumpet blasts.
The Predators
Predators’ ideology is every man for himself and God for no one. Believing in survival of the fittest, they justify the oppression of the weak by the strong and are indifferent to the exploitation of the poor by the rich. Their ideology is best encapsulated by the local proverb “onye kpa nkpa, oke elue aka” which very roughly translates as “those who struggle hard with all their might get the prime position at the dining table.”
Where the Feudalist is driven by the protection of ethnic or group interests, the predator is driven by personal greed for selfish interests. Even though feudalism and predation both lead to terrible injustice on others, feudalism actually ranks higher than predation in terms of altruism when viewed from the perspective of charity.
Predators illegally corner far more than they can comfortably live upon for several lifetimes while their neighbors go hungry for lack of food, shelter or clothing. Yet they are unmoved or even pleased by all the suffering they see around them. The predator seizes the poor man’s cloak in payment for an outstanding debt knowing fully well that it is all he possesses before proceeding to devour his wife and daughters while mocking him to boot.
Predators only insist on a level playing ground for all men when they are personally disadvantaged. However when they are unduly advantaged, it is no one’s business.
Being knowledgeable about the ways of the world, it must be conceded that predators are very ingenious and creative. Unlike feudalists who are scarcely entrepreneurial, predators have a keen appetite for risk and have a well-honed ability to make things happen. Consequently they are always in favor of the privatization of assets such as land, resources, organizations and institutions, which they proceed to buy-off with relish.
Because of their drive to succeed at all costs, predators freely indulge in virtually all forms of misdemeanors known to man. No crime known to man is too great for the predator to partake in provided there are rewards associated with its successful accomplishment.
Feudalists vs. predators
It is now clear that the last Nigerian elections was not about the national interest or progress but a fight to the finish between our arch-feudalists and our arch-predators. That is the reason why almost a year after the elections, the fight is still ongoing as each side wants to pulverize the other. Each side has also retreated to the geographical corner of the nation where it enjoys the greatest sympathies if not outright support.
It should be borne in mind that Nigeria’s arc of antipathy and antagonism does not imply or presuppose that all the people to the south and east of the arc are predators nor does it suggest that all the people to the north and west of the arc are feudalists. That would be an overly simplistic rendition of the actual reality.
Indeed a vast majority of Nigerians caught on either side of this imaginary arc are common folks struggling under difficult circumstances to eke out a living. They are equally yoked under the excesses of their respective arch-feudalists and arch-predators. However although there is little homogeneity on either side of the arc since feudalistic or predatory behaviors are not subject to geographical constraints, there is a perceptible slant or pre-disposition towards either feudalism or predation on each side.
The arch-feudalists and arch-predators may not even account for much more than 20% of the populations of their respective geographical spheres of influence. The balance 80% fraction on either side are basically pawns being manipulated by the dominant tendency on either side into trading insults daily across the arc.
In an earlier essay in the “A Nation in Heat” cycle of essays, subtitled “A Nation in Heat – Disaster Foretold,” published over a year ago, this writer had referred to the then ruling predatory administration of the People’s Democratic Party under former President Goodluck Jonathan as comparable to Egypt under King Pharaoh. I had also referred to the then unfathomed yet potentially feudalistic APC challenge, gathering electoral steam under then General Muhammadu Buhari, as our foreboding Red Sea. Forced to make a choice, I advised Nigerians to abandon Egypt and wade into the Red Sea with complete faith in God.
As things now stand, I appeal to Nigerians to earnestly pray to God to send us our own Moses complete with a staff to help us cross this unforgiving Red Sea in which we find ourselves. Neither of the options open to us, i.e. returning to the predatory Egypt from whence we came or drowning in the feudalistic Red Sea in which we find ourselves, is particularly palatable. Since predators govern by exploitation while feudalists rule by suppression, our only remaining and best option is to turn to God who knows the hearts of all and withholds justice from none.
What Nigeria needs in three years’ time is a Moses who belongs neither to the feudalists’ camp nor to the predators’ band. We need a pan-nationalist who would heal our gash of antagonism once and for all. Since Heaven helps those who help themselves, we must now transform ourselves into pan-nationalists so that God can throw up someone from our midst to rescue our dear nation currently wallowing in utter despair.
As pan-nationalists, we must reclaim our nation from the hands of feudalists and predators alike, who are our common enemies. A situation where the pendulum of Nigerian leadership swings exclusively between predators driven by greed and feudalists driven by ethnic jingoism and religious bigotry has not brought us unity. It has not yielded peace. It has not engendered justice. It has generated precious little development and even less progress after more than half a century of national independence.
It is as clear as daylight that there is nothing ‘progressive’ about the feudalistic APC and nothing ‘democratic’ about the predatory PDP. Our national way forward may not solely be about forming new political parties but also about shaming the existing dominant APC and PDP political parties into living up to the ideals of their self-chosen monikers.
As pan-nationalists, we seek a nation where a person’s ethnicity, religion and connections are of no more significance to the way they are treated than the color of the clothes they are wearing. We seek a nation where there is honest competition for every benefit our country has to offer and where the ultimate beneficiaries, chosen solely on merit, realize that they hold their positions in trust for all of us without exception and always strive to deliver stellar performance commensurate with our extant expectations.
To sum it all up, we seek a nation that demands from every one according to their ability and requites to everyone according to their output or according to their barest minimum subsistence needs, whichever is the greater.
So help us O God.
- THE END –