BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO<\/p>\n
Mathematically, Nigeria is said to be 59 years of post-independence in
\nthe sense that it was on October 1st 1960 that some foreign occupying
\nforces (Great Britain) retreated by general consensus of both the
\noccupier and the occupied.<\/p>\n
It was on that day that political scholars reckon that Nigeria gained
\nflag independence with the lowering of the Elizabethan or rather the
\nunion Jack which is the baptismal name of the British flag.<\/p>\n
As an aside but certainly critical, do you know that the first mistake
\nthose who received the flag independence made was not to have baptized
\nour National flag? The Nigerian Flag unlike its progenitor is nameless
\nbut embodies symbolism.<\/p>\n
That aside, another gross error of judgment made at independence was
\nthe short sightedness in not renegotiating the terms of the union
\nwhich was consummated in 1914 when the southern protectorate was
\nunified with the Northern protectorate in what political historians
\nchose to call amalgamation.<\/p>\n
From the sketch of historical accounts, it doesn\u2019t appear that the
\namalgamation agenda was borne out of a genuine national consensus but
\nwas rather a business idea by the British colonialists to maximize
\ntheir drive for more natural and human resources to enrich their local
\neconomisand previsely their agroallied industry. For instance, most
\nNigerians are not aware of who were the witnesses at the so called
\namalgamation of 1914 or was our head shaved in our absence? Why are
\nthere no known indigenous witnesses to the signing of the
\namalgamation treaty or was it purely a British affair?<\/p>\n
The secrecy surrounding this 1914 amalgamation looks like a conspiracy
\nof the British to maximize their drive for natural resources from all
\nparts of Nigeria and to stop any incursion by other foreign force<\/p>\n
This mistake of history by our ‘heroes past’ to renegotiate our union
\nor to at least brainstorm on the necessity or otherwise of the
\ncontinuous existence of Nigeria as an entity or otherwise, still
\nhobbles Nigeria and is the fundamental source of the groundswell of
\ndisagreements and discontents amongst the divergent segments of the
\ncontemporary Nigerian society. This is the origin of the current
\nagitation for self determination and\/or restructuring. Still dwelling
\non the fundamental symbolism of the 1960 independence, let us revisit
\nthe National flag of Nigeria and examine its import and philosophy.<\/p>\n
First, we note that the symbolic meaning of the green, white, green
\nflag with vertical stripes represent Nigeria\u2019s natural wealth, while
\nthe white band represent peace.<\/p>\n
However, as Nigeria has become a grown adult at 59, it is safe to
\nstate that those two symbols of natural resources and peace have
\neluded the millions of Nigerians who have now become endangered
\nspecies, deprived, oppressed, marginalized and made vulnerable by the
\ngovernment whose legal mandate is to guarantor safety of lives and
\nproperty of the citizens.<\/p>\n
The natural resources of Nigeria have become like curses on corporate
\nNigeria even as peace is an illusion.<\/p>\n
One British journalist who spent four decades covering the energy
\nsector in Africa, wrote a big book he chose to call crude continent,
\nin which he narrated how the discovery of rich natural resources of
\ncrude oil in Nigeria, as well as few other African nations, sparked
\noff serial corruption on the part of African leaders. As I write, the
\ncommunities whereby these huge natural resources are found are
\nimpoverished, their environments devastated, raped, polluted and
\nregularly vandalised by multinationals with the government as a
\nnecessary collaborator. The people of Niger Delta are today facing
\nsocial injustices the scale that is unfathomable but yet their
\nbackyards are the habitation for much of the National wealth which
\nonly less than 1 % of Nigerians made up of politicians and their
\nsurrogates share amongst themselves.<\/p>\n
Not long ago, anyway the United Nations office on drugs and crime
\n(UNODC) made a presentation in which it estimated that as at a decade
\nago, nearly $400 billion of Nigeria\u2019s crude oil revenues have all
\nbeen stolen by successive political and military leadership of the
\nNigerian state.<\/p>\n
Take for instance, one of the most brutal dictators to have graced
\nNigeria as a military despot stole nearly $5 billion which was found
\nin few of his many unknown accounts and this late dictator, General
\nSani Abacha, successfully hid these massive quantum of cash in foreign
\njurisdiction at the time Nigeria was a pariah state under different
\nglobal wide sanctions. You can then imagine how much would have been
\nstolen by governments of Nigeria under the periods that the country is
\nnot under any form of sanctions including now that the country is
\nmarking 59th year of independence.<\/p>\n
Just look at who is 59 but still her citizens are so poor, endangered
\nand buffeted by all kinds of bloody violence whilst the government in
\nplace look the other way whilst Fulani bandits, armed kidnappers,
\nterrorists have continued to unleash devastating violence on the
\npublic space with countless casualties.<\/p>\n
Ideally, a child who is 15 years of age is no longer looked upon as a
\nchild, and so you wonder why at 59, Nigeria is such a very dangerous
\nplace, made so by incompetent political leaders and a whole lot of
\nuncharismatic followers who do not bother to press on for the
\nprotection and respect of the constitutionally guaranteed human rights
\nwhich are enshrined in chapter 4 of the Nigerian constitution.<\/p>\n
This constitution which is a sacred code of conduct is currently
\ndefecated upon by those who wield temporary political power.<\/p>\n
These politicians violate the constitutional rights of citizens with
\nimpunity.<\/p>\n
Politicians treat the citizens as if they do not matter in the
\nnational calculations.<\/p>\n
But reading the latest book by Michelle Obama called \u201cBecoming\u201d
\nwill prove the statement that a 59 year old adult must behave well
\nbecause even at the age of 15, Michelle who would go on to become
\nAmerica\u2019s 44th first lady and wife of USA president number 44, Mr.
\nBarack Obama, was looked upon as an adult.<\/p>\n
She wrote as follows: \u201cBY THE TIME I was fourteen, I basically
\nthought of myself as half a grown-up anyway \u2013 maybe even as
\ntwo-thirds of a grown-up. I\u2019d gotten my period, which I announced
\nimmediately and with huge excitement to everyone in the house, because
\nthat was just the kind of household we had. I\u2019d graduated from a
\ntraining bra to one that looked vaguely more womanly, which also
\nthrilled me. Instead of coming home for lunch, I now ate with my
\nclassmates in Mr. Bennett\u2019s room at school. Instead of dropping in
\nat Southside\u2019s house on Saturdays to listen to his jazz records and
\nplay with Rex, I rode my bike right past, headed east to the bungalow
\non Oglesby Avenue where the Gore sisters lived.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question we need to answer is why at 59, the Nigerian state and
\nher overspoilt political elite still behaves like a toddler going by
\nthe crude type of political leadership in place?<\/p>\n
The straight forward answer is the general lack of will power by the
\ncitizens to stand by their rights as provided for generously in
\nchapter 4 of the 1999 constitution and the willingness of the people
\nto be oppressed by the same persons they elect to govern.<\/p>\n
I will not hesitate to state that although as at 1982 or thereabout
\nwhen the intellectual oracle from the black world Professor Chinua
\nAchebe wrote his smallest book called \u201cThe Trouble with Nigeria\u201d,
\nit can be argued that basically the fundamental crisis of
\nunderdevelopment of Nigeria was caused by poor leadership.<\/p>\n
Here is what Professor Achebe wrote: \u201cThe trouble with Nigeria is
\nsimply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing wrong
\nwith the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else.
\nThe Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders
\nto rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example
\nwhich are the hallmarks of true leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
But fast forward to 2019, Nigeria\u2019s problem is both poor leadership
\nand lethargic followership.<\/p>\n
Take for instance, in 2015, during the general elections as well as
\nthe 2019 polls, majority of voters succumbed to the temptation of
\nmortgaging their consciences for bags of salt, rice, wrappers, and few
\ncash which were freely distributed to would-be voters by those seeking
\nthe mandate of the people. Also, at 59 Nigeria has the World’s most
\nincompetent electoral commission and the World’s most compromised
\nelectora and judicial systems that aids heist of ballots during
\nelections in favour of any incumbent President vying for re-election.<\/p>\n
Any wonder then that Nigeria at 59 is almost behaving like a failed
\nstate?<\/p>\n
Now some governors negotiate with armed bandits and mass killers.<\/p>\n
Today, the Federal government goes about freeing detained boko haram
\nterrorists and even reintegrating them to live eye ball to eye ball in
\nthe same communities whereby they committed genocide, all in the guise
\nthat they have repented. Victims of these heinous crimes are
\nmarginalised and overlooked whilst the criminals are glamourised and
\ncelebrated by politicians. Just look at who is 59!<\/p>\n
These are constitutional violations. But the political leadership of
\nthe 59 year old sovereign nation see nothing unethical or criminal
\nwhen they wined and dined with armed bandits. The abnormal has been
\nnormalised by the political class who as we speak are drinking
\nthemselves to stupor with expensive champagne and strong wines even as
\n90 million Nigerian citizens have become absolutely poor with the 59
\nyear old Nation becoming the poverty capital of the World only last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
As earlier stated, the primary issue of lack of a national consensus
\nas the basis for our unity still haunts us like a ghost.<\/p>\n
Nigeria at 59 needs to work out strategies for restructuring to fix
\nthe broken society and to make all component parts to truly have a
\nsense of belonging.<\/p>\n
Just look at who is 59! yet all the top national security heads are
\nfrom one section of Nigeria and are all moslems.<\/p>\n
This distorted and sectional formation of national security team
\nviolates the Federal character principle as contained in the
\nconstitution which I will cite shortly just as the incapacity of
\ngovernment to safeguard the lives of Nigerians constitutes serious
\nbreach of the constitution.<\/p>\n
Specifically, section 14(1) (2) (3) state that: \u201c(1) The Federal
\nRepublic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of
\ndemocracy and social justice.\u201d (2) It is hereby, accordingly,
\ndeclared that: (a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from
\nwhom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and
\nauthority; (b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the
\nprimary purpose of government: and (c) the participation by the people
\nin their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions
\nof this Constitution. (3) The composition of the Government of the
\nFederation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall
\nbe carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of
\nNigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command
\nnational loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance
\nof persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional
\ngroups in that Government or in any of its agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Nigeria marks 59 of failed promises and aspirations, let the people
\nresolve to become resilient and to consistently demand accountability
\nfrom the politicians notwithstanding the clear threats to their lives
\nby armed security forces manipulated by the elites to kill the people
\nwho would resist their oppressive and tyrannical tendencies.<\/p>\n
We must repossess the nation by insisting on the obedience of the
\nconstitution and the strengthening of the institutions of democracy.
\nLet us say no to the EVOLUTION OF A STRONG MAN AS NIGERIA’S PRESIDENT
\nBUT TO WORK TOWARDS ESTABLISHMENT OF SYRONF AND ENDURING DEMOCRATIC
\nINSTITUTIONS. Fellow Nigerians it is a mournful independence
\nanniversary.<\/p>\n
*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria
\n(HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com [1];
\nwww.huriwa@blogspot.com [2]; www.thenigerianinsidernews.com [3]<\/p>\n
Links:
\n——
\n[1] http:\/\/www.emmanuelonwubiko.com\/
\n[2] http:\/\/www.huriwa@blogspot.com\/
\n[3] http:\/\/www.thenigerianinsidernews.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO Mathematically, Nigeria is said to be 59 years of post-independence in the sense that it was on October 1st 1960 that some foreign occupying forces (Great Britain)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n