At the moment, the most trending public political discourse in Nigeria is the recent re – arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, the de facto leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a secessionist group and the report on a joint security operatives raid on Sunday Adeyemo Igboho’s residence, a prominent member of Yoruba Nation agitator. While Nnamdi Kanu was reportedly apprehended in Kenya, Sunday Igboho evaded arrest and his whereabouts remains a mystery.
Kanu’s apprehension and the fact that Igboho is on the run may have created the notion that Nigeria’s government is currently on top of the agitation for self-determination. Notably, the agitation is mass-based agenda. Both the separatist leaders have unflinching grassroots support. Numerous persons with the exact Kanu and Igboho’s public status can easily rise with the mood on ground. In fact, if the most notorious person embraces and propagates secession agenda among the Southerners, he or she will be immediately eulogized and transformed to hero-like personality.
Indisputably, no government or political establishment would fold its arms and eagerly cede any part of its geographical territory without any iota of resistance. Many a time, conflict precedes disintegration of nations. The partition of British India to India and Pakistan in 1947 was not free of conflict, likewise the 1991 dissolution and transformation of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) into 15 nations. The 2011 referendum which took place in Sudan and eventually led to its division into two nations was not achieved on a platter.
It is understandable that the plight of Kanu and Igboho emanated from an attempt to dissuade further attempt on secession agenda. No Nigeria’s president be it from North or South would condone secession without resistance or reluctance. Realistically, it is a difficult decision for a nation’s president to willingly derogate their authority. Nevertheless, once a people are unanimously determined to secede and live separately, history has proven that no government or authority could hinder such resolve. The achievement could only be delayed.
The Buhari – led administration needs to exercise caution and embrace dialogue for national interest. Both the government and the separatist leaders are guilty of unlawful acts and illegalities. This is not a period for blame game or scapegoating. The government needs to retrace its step and dialogue with the separatist leaders. The adoption of any instrumentality other than dialogue would send a wrong signal to Southerners and jeopardize Nigeria’s corporate entity. The spirit of secession can’t be crushed with bullets or questions of legality. It would only harden the heart and resolve of the survival and their future generations.
Binzak Azeez, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife
