Anytime there is a call for war, those who have once lived through it speak differently from those whose experience is from computer games. Just recently, two former Nigerian leaders, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and a former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma (retd.) have been on a rampage – spewing inflammatory comments about a possible civil war in Nigeria – holding rallies in Nigeria and overseas, conveying animosity over the country’s current political status.
Using such comment that the nation was “in a big hole, so everyone should wake up,” Obasanjo had warned of possible violent agitations for self-determination movements if governance restructuring was not addressed. Danjuma on his part warned of possible unrest, stating “If I tell you what I know that is happening in Nigeria today, you will no longer sleep.” Both men secured speaking engagements where they rephrased and spread their ‘gospel’ in most sensational and sentimental tunes to invoke tension.
No doubt, Nigeria is near the governance crisis.
Please let me make it clear, that this article or writer does not in any way opposed to a restructuring of current Nigeria’s system. Nigeria needs a new constitution because the current one is a refurbished version of the authoritarian set of rules used by the past military leaders. Likewise, Nigeria needs effective governance to restructure the current system that will reflect the country’s diverse and contemporary sociopolitical terrain.
Whereas the All Progressive Congress regime of Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari (another retired military officer) has fervently defended every facet of their tenure, the masses sing a differing tune. Openly, the majority of Nigerians are demonstrating their opposition to a run-down system under a leadership totally blind with an unbelievable naivety about the path to a truly progressive future.
Please let me make it clear, that this article or writer does not in any way opposed to a restructuring of current Nigeria’s system. Nigeria needs a new constitution because the current one is a refurbished version of the authoritarian set of rules used by the past military leaders. Likewise, Nigeria needs effective governance to restructure the current system that will reflect the country’s diverse and contemporary sociopolitical terrain.
However, do Nigerians necessarily need Obasanjo and Danjuma to lead a choir of angry masses agitating this cause? Based on their records of Nigeria’s governance, should Obasanjo and Danjuma be trusted as true advocates for a progressive Nigeria? In other words, as military juntas and career coup peddlers who contributed immensely to Nigeria’s degenerative governance afflictions, do they even have the moral rights to counsel Nigerians on good governance? Or most ridiculously, as ex juntas and politicians who atrophied the nation for years, don’t they have any shame proposing structural changes they blatantly scorned, ridiculed, and denied when they led Nigeria? Could a poor population trust brutal scamps who looted their communal prospects as leaders – and now richer than the country they ravaged?
Most Nigerians, especially the youthful generation should, first of all, understand these men, Obasanjo and Danjuma, the role the duo played in destroying what would have been a united Nigeria – and, their current crusade against the current regime. These two inglorious political godfathers still believe they own Nigeria, politics, and economic resources. From aiding the civil war genocide to their roles as military dictators, these men, at some point, were individually richer than Nigeria. As military dictators, they plundered Nigeria’s treasury and bled the country dry before handing over power to the civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
We must understand that their latest mission is politically motivated. Both, as political godfathers, were responsible for installing criminal agents in the office to protect their crooked national interests – including access to government contracts, political appointments, and revenue allocation engagements.
But the truth again is that Nigerians do not need these men to tell them when to go to ‘war’. Other politicians who equally lost out on federal contracts, appointments, and those who crumbled in their political careers are equally calling for war. You could see them on social media inciting the youth population to take to the streets for violent and deadly protests whereas, their kids are shipped to the best colleges overseas for education.
But the truth again is that Nigerians do not need these men to tell them when to go to ‘war’. Other politicians who equally lost out on federal contracts, appointments, and those who crumbled in their political careers are equally calling for war. You could see them on social media inciting the youth population to take to the streets for violent and deadly protests whereas, their kids are shipped to the best colleges overseas for education.
It is pertinent to note that the last civil war was between the Igbos and Nigeria – a bloody duel where the Igbos faced the entire world (except Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Haiti which displayed human heart) defending their Biafra nationhood. When the drums of this war were being beaten and jigged, most politicians who eventually aided the genocide against the Igbos deceitfully voiced strong support for Biafra. By the end of this war, Igbos lost millions of lives, all their properties, jobs, and positions. The North took over the political power; the West took over the economic power, and other minority tribes were legally authorized to seize up all properties belonging to the Igbos. How could a Nation be this mean?
Igbo parents struggled to start all over, their children returned to bombed-out school buildings and nonexistent educational system. Just for the records, I school under a tree. There was no counseling, especially for children who could not find their parents and homes. Handicapped soldiers and civilians were left out of rehabilitation and Medi-care by the coldblooded government obsessive about persecuting the Igbos for ever lifting arms to defend their failed nation, Biafra.
This post-war government was not interested in the plights of civilians who survived a three-year genocide. Rather, they gave Igbos more cruel conditions to further alienate them from the system – actions considered as retaliation for fighting against a system that did not want them in the first place.
This post-war government was not interested in the plights of civilians who survived a three-year genocide. Rather, they gave Igbos more cruel conditions to further alienate them from the system – actions considered as retaliation for fighting against a system that did not want them in the first place.
I was a child victim and survivor of the Biafran Civil War, and my testimony came from memory, not from Google. As a 6-year old before the war and a 9-year old after, who also survived the post-war era, I am disturbed by this ridiculous irony about those who took part in this genocide soullessly inciting the Igbos once again to take up arms, citing as reasons, the very causes that led to the civil war they once denounced. O thou frustrated evil degenerates and pretentious elder statesmen!!!
I will be as clear as I can, that the Igbos are not fighting anybody. Igbos have fought their war. The Next civil war should be between the Western and Northern Nigeria, and I cannot wait for that moment. I would relocate to the Benin Republic and open an assault-rifle business.
I will be as clear as I can, that the Igbos are not fighting anybody. Igbos have fought their war. The Next civil war should be between the Western and Northern Nigeria, and I cannot wait for that moment. I would relocate to the Benin Republic and open an assault-rifle business.
I would also import ‘packaged food’ from China and liaise with both the Western and Northern sides for supply contracts.
What am I trying to buttress? I am simply reminding Nigerians that Western Nigeria can proceed with a civil war against the North; Igbos would simply supply arms and ammunition, and food and water during the period of the conflict, and possibly, acquire lands and property by all means necessary.
As, a takeaway, please mark my words: Igbos are not asking for an Igbonization of Nigeria. They are only asking for justice and fairness. Without a fair governance structure, Nigeria (North, East, South, and West) will not move and would remain in the pitiful muddy water of desolation and vagueness.
♦ Anthony Obi Ogbo, PhD is a staff of the West African Pilot.
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