19/09/2017
NIGERIA, BEWARE OF THE RESTRUCTURING RUSE by
Emmanuel Chigozie Osuchukwu
Interested observers of Nigeria have long predicted that Nigeria will come to this impasse, prelude to a major political upheaval. The cacophony of restructuring from across the land is resonating very loud and clear but we are obviously not singing from the same hymn book. That’s my major concern. The various restructuring camps have crystallized, with variant ideas of restructuring and concomitant agitations.
The obvious background is that Nigeria is presently convulsing and buckling under the weight of its historical iniquities, inefficient and unjustifiable socio-political and economic structures. The anxiety levels are capable of turning into catastrophic upheaval. To use the popular CIA description, an implosion is probable. That is why potential winners and losers are equally worried. It is definitely a case of restructure or implode, now or in future.
I am unapologetically Igbo and I say so because the Nigerian experience leaves me with no choice. For me not to speak as an Igbo in these trying times is unconscionable. So I speak as an Igbo. The experience of the Igbos in Nigeria has been unfortunately painful and bitter and it would be mere self deceit to romanticise a united Nigeria, unconditionally. Tribal affiliations and sentimentalities are realities of Nigerian life and have to be acknowledged. It is rather unfortunate that the tribe that has contributed more than any other group in promoting the unity of Nigeria is often maligned, impugned, marginalised and visited with violence at the slightest provocation. Our offence being simply that we are a very visible group by virtue of our achievements in life and see Nigeria as our homeland. We have even tried to live with the lid Nigeria put on our abundant energy and our potential to achieve greater things in the country we call ours. Since 1970, Nigeria has systematically tried to emasculate the Igbos. Whether they have succeeded in doing so is matter of differing assessments.
The summary of it is that we have been made to feel unwanted and unsafe in our own country. Igbos are not angels but hardly the aggressors and I would add that they have become victims, deserving of compensation and protection.
Every unacceptable condition has an end date, peacefully or violently. The loud cries of restructuring are indications that Nigeria is not working and we need to change our governance arrangements or risk grounding to halt.
My problem is that when some Nigerians speak of restructuring, they maintain a very narrow narrative of Nigeria’s fundamental problems. Listening to El Rufai and John Oyegun we get the picture that many Nigerians are yet to accept that there is a critical structural fault in Nigeria’s corporate existence and what we are witnessing is not just the result of bad governance and recalcitrant Igbos capitalising on a temporary economic upheaval and stirring up troubles. According to El Rufai, his party will never accede to any attempt to make any fundamental changes to Nigeria’s present structure. In other words, minor tinkering with the system is what Nigeria needs – meaningless cosmetic changes that will not address Nigeria’s lingering problems of co-existence.
That’s where Igbos need to stand firm until Nigeria is restructured to reflect a fair, just and equitable nation. Igbos are existing in a state of double jeopardy in Nigeria. Yes, Igbos are victims of bad and criminal governance perpetrated by their own political leaders as other parts of the country. But they have an additional problem of being marginalised, despised, victimised and systematically made to feel so, and their leaders psychologically incapacitated to a point of impotence to speak for them.
The Nigerian constitution is an instrument used glaringly in legitimising these injustices. Therefore, when Igbos talk of restructuring, we mean going back to where things started going terribly wrong, not just for the Igbos but for the entire country. North or south, where is the peace and harmony to assume that it is a sectional problem.
Restructuring is self definitive and any attempt to pervert its meaning is mere deceit. Any architect can correct me. If I say there is a structural fault in any socio-political or physical design, it means that there is a fundamental fault and that the foundational design needs to be revisited; otherwise the continued existence of that creative work will be unsustainable. In other words cosmetic changes will not suffice.
Someone's position in any argument in restructuring that entity will depend on his role in creating the faulty design or what he would gain or lose in the restructuring exercise. The role of very sectional military regimes in constructing current Nigeria’s political structure is undeniable.
For historical and contemporary reasons, Igbos can rightly maintain that they have minimal role in creating the faulty structure called Nigeria and they are already big losers under the faulty structure. Therefore, I assume that their position today will contain elements many commentators will consider extreme as is the case with Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB. The good thing is now both landlord and tenant seem to agree that the house we are living in is faulty but how dangerous and the level of rectification needed will depend on the creaky noises coming from the house. Niger Delta militants, Boko Haram, MASSOB, IPOB, Fulani herdsmen are clear indications of stress in the Nigerian systems. Igbos are currently shouting the most because they have fared worse under the current Nigerian structure. Like or loathe Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, they are now a factor in Igbo and Nigerian politics. They have raised a massive shout and created a movement that can’t be ignored. Only the naïve and bloody minded will fail to recognize what they represent and symbolize.
They represent the pains, frustrations and the anger of the Igbos. I do not share in their choice of words or their seemingly reckless approaches but I clearly identify with the underpinnings of their emergence. Examine calmly, and you’ll see that NK and IPOB are simply hardliners at the far end of Igbo anger. Therefore, before anyone condemns NK and his likes or attempt to suppress them, let him think deeply. The fire may consume both the oppressor and the oppressed. Those who believe that the agitations for restructuring are unpatriotic and a ploy to undermine the unity of Nigeria are doing Nigeria the greatest disservice.
Restructuring is the only chance of consolidating the continued existence of the country and I would add averting potential catastrophe.
Nigerians beware; there is a restructuring ruse out there to obfuscate Nigeria’s critically structural deficiencies. Our National Assembly suddenly passed 33 bills in one day in the name of constitutional review as if patching a leaking roof will rectify a wobbly foundation.
The truth is that Nigeria has not been the same since 1966. Just one example, Nigerians seem to forget that we never discussed the current state structure currently in practice. General Gowon and his military colleagues made a strategic move in 1967 to undermine the secessionist Biafra and created states to sow the seeds of discord among the constituent parts of Biafra. It worked but since then no one has asked whether this is a viable administrative arrangement or not. Instead we have continued on this trajectory of fragmenting the country and intensifying the seeds of difference and conflict. Is it not proper for Nigerians to sit together and without a military cabal as overlords, and discuss the best option for a meaningful and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria? The time is now.
Two pertinent quotes:
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable - John F. Kennedy
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding - Albert Einstein
©Emmanuel Chigozie Osuchukwu
