Secession Isn’t An Option

Breaking up Nigeria isn’t the solution to her many challenges, writes Tobi Soniyi

Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, agitation for separation fueled by ethnic nationalism has never been this strident. Those who hitherto did not believe that the country could break up nowclaimed to have changed their minds, citing ominous dark clouds gathering over the country.

What is happening in the Southeast is looking more like an insurgency. It is wishful thinking to assume that it could not happen in the west. There is an uneasy calm in the South-south. There is tension in the middle belt. Northwest has been crippled by banditry and kidnapping. The northeast is ravaged by Boko Haram. Leaders are crawling into their ethnic shells. Many are beginning to think that life could be safer and better under their own ethnic enclave. A united Nigeria is currently killing the euphoria that came with independence in 1960.

This agitation is being fueled by perceived injustice arising from the imbalance in the structure of the country. The immediate cause, however, is the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to recognise and manage the nation’s faultlines.

When Umar Musa Yar’Adua became the president, Niger Delta militants were going to make the country ungovernable for him just like Nnamdi Kanu of the proscribed Indegenous Peoples of Biafra did when Buhari became president in 2015.

They both adopted different approaches. While Yar’Adua recognised the injustice the Niger Delta had been subjected to, and adopted an inclusive policy – the amnesty programme, Buhari adopted a divisible approach, sending soldiers after IPOB and proscribing the group. The relative peace in the Niger Delta still endures till today. Yar’Adua gave the militants a sense of belonging.

Presented with an opportunity to bring the Igbos back into the fold, Buhari adopted a military option. The result is evident in the insecurity now threatening to consume the southeast. He didn’t stop there. Buhari further set a dangerous precedent by excluding the Igbos from security agencies in Nigeria. Northerners will cry foul if a president from the south fails to appoint Hausa/Fulani to head at least one of the security agencies in the country.

However, just as there cannot be peace without justice, cutting the head off is not the cure for headache. Balkanising Nigeria is not the solution to the challenges the country faces.

Administratively, there is a lot the president can do to douse tension. A president, who cares about his country and the people would have by now decisively resolved the herder-farmer crisis that has pitted the north against the south. It is the failure of the president to lead that forced the southern governors to fill the leadership vacuum created by the president.

A certain Sunday Igboho would have nothing to base his campaign for an Oduduwa nation if the president had stopped Fulani herdsmen from terrorising his people in the Southwest.

Buhari can render Nnamdi Kanu unpopular in the east by bringing the Igbos closer and addressingsquarely, issues affecting the region. For instance, what injury will the president suffer if someone from the South east is appointed to head one of the security agencies?
Governors are also not without fault. Any state wishing to prohibit open grazing could have acquired a piece of land, put in the necessary facilities and order herders to move their herds there. There wouldbe a cost for herders to bear, but states can lead in this direction. The state can then ban open grazing and arrest anyone grazing openly. It should be obvious to us all that even the herdsmen need help, because the fact that the federal government has failed them does not mean states should also fail them.

Lack of tolerance, not only on the part of leaders but among ordinary Nigerian, is another factor driving the agitation.
By population, Nigeria is the biggest country in Africa. That, ordinarily, is an advantage that should work for all. But by playing one ethnic group against another, the humongous population has become a liability to Nigeria.

For too long, the senators and members of the House of Representatives sit-by idly as Buhari ruthlessly ride roughshod over the country. Today, many of them cannot travel to their constituencies and districts by road for fear of attacks.
The National Assembly can redeem its battered image by using the opportunity provided by the ongoing constitutional review to correct structural imbalances already identified by advocates of restructuring.

A cut and paste amendment would not do. The National Assembly should go deeper by involving more Nigerians in the process. The country is not going to get a perfect constitution but can have one that satisfies all ethnic nationalities.

The calls to divide Nigeria along ethnic lines should be a wake up call for all, not just the leaders. For the citizens, one of the ways they can help in electing a leader that will work for the unity of the country is to make sure they register to vote. During elections, they should support a candidate that will work for all.

Nigeria’s strength lies in our unity. There cannot be unity without justice. This president has failed to do justice to all. Those thinking that the president could shoot his way out of the present crisis should have a rethink. With the best efforts and intention, the president has not been able to shoot his way out of the Boko Haram insurgency. It is not too late to retrace the current steps the nation is taking.