Inheriting the name Nigeria

….also published in Daily Trust  

Amid the raging controversy over the future of Nigeria as a united country, and having written about the issue on several occasions, I now address the question surrounding the fate of the name Nigeria in the aftermath of the worst-case scenario in this regard, i.e. the country’s break-up, God forbid. By the way, though my repeated invocation against this eventuality reflects my belief that the country is, and would probably remain, better off united than divided, nevertheless, I believe that, unless the current persistently growing existential threat to the country’s survival is adequately addressed, its break-up can’t be completely ruled out.

Therefore, inasmuch as some proposed names like Oduduwa Republic in the south-west, Republic of Biafra in the south-east and recently Atlantic Republic in the Niger-Delta are already popular among the subregions’ respective separatist movements in anticipation of self-determination in their respective subregions, it’s obvious that they aren’t interested in inheriting the name Nigeria in the aftermath of the country’s break-up, whereas, in the north, the name Nigeria is repeatedly mentioned as part of the different names proposed for the region in the event it becomes a sovereign country. 

Secession between hypocrisy and illusion (ll)

…also published in Daily Trust

As the elite hypocrisy in the south-east continues to undermine the neo-Biafran secession agenda, the secessionists also continue to ignore other underlying dynamics that frustrate their mission. The ever-increasing interdependence amongst the various socio-economic strata of Nigerians is obviously one of the factors that make their project particularly tricky.

The political and technocratic elites at the federal level, for instance, most, if not all, of whom must have benefitted at one time or another from the pervasive culture of ethno-religiously motivated nepotism to attain or maintain a position in their respective careers, never think about their regional identity, ethnic and religious differences when it comes to pursuing or protecting their personal interests at the expense of ordinary Nigerians. Though they still subtly play ethno-religious and regional cards to maintain popularity in their respective regions and constituencies, however, once they gather around a portion of the “national cake”, they never remember such differences. In other words, when a Chibuzo from the south-east, a Garba from the north, a Femi from the south-west, a Bulus from the north-central and a Lokpoibiri from the Niger-Delta conspire to steal public funds, they never look at one another as an Igbo Christian, a Hausa Muslim, a Yoruba or whatever, let alone facilitate the country’s break-up on regional, ethnic or religious basis.

Secession between hypocrisy and illusion (1)

….also published in Daily Trust

The recent issuance of an ultimatum by the neo-Biafran secessionists to northern Nigerians based in south-eastern Nigeria to leave the region, and the counter-ultimatum issued subsequently by a group calling itself the Coalition of Northern Youths to the Igbos based in northern Nigeria to leave the region have retriggered the recurrent controversy over the survival of Nigeria as a united country.

Having survived the bloody Biafran secession attempt almost half a century ago, Nigeria has on various occasions also somehow survived many relatively lesser yet serious threats to its survival. However, the threats have over the decades seriously taken their toll on its socio-economic development and political stability.

Though the successive civilian administrations and military regimes in the country may deserve some credit for managing to keep the country united despite their failure in general, which has consequently frustrated the country and rendered it unable to achieve its massive economic potential, it (i.e. Nigeria) also owes its survival to other underlying factors. For instance, its survival is, one the one hand, partly and indeed quite ironically due to the hypocrisy of the elite stakeholders in the south-east where the neo-Biafran secessionists have been agitating for secession, and, on the other hand, to the inconsistency of an increasingly growing number of northerners who, after decades of vehement resistance against the secession of the south-east, are now increasingly showing willingness to accept its secession this time around, and even create a separate country in the north in the aftermath, yet, quite ironically however, they aren’t committed to preparing the necessary ground for that.

Chaos in the season of Tafseer

….also published in Daily Trust

As the Month of the Qur’an, Ramadan usually sees proliferation of public Qur’anic Tafseer sessions conducted by Muslim scholars particularly in northern Nigeria. Though during the month, Islamic religious public preaching sessions generally increase in Muslim communities the world over, the trend is particularly phenomenal in Nigeria.

At the beginning of each Ramadan, the atmosphere gets increasingly overwhelmed with live and recorded broadcasts of Tafseer sessions conducted by not only well-versed and reputable Islamic scholars, but also many attention-seeking quacks that explain the sheer amount of conflicting and indeed utterly irreconcilable interpretations of many Qur’anic verses, which consequently create confusion and fuel sectarian divide among Muslims in the country. Needless to say, the confusion spoils the unique Ramadanic atmosphere of spiritual composure, peace of mind and communal tranquility.

Politics of prisoner-hostage swap

….also published in Daily Trust

On many occasions since the outbreak of the ongoing Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria, the terrorists have done what has always proved their links with some much more sophisticated terrorist groups elsewhere from which they apparently not only learn combat strategies but also learn the politics of negotiations with constituted authorities.

Being a local terror group composed of grossly misinformed gang leaders and ridiculously ill-informed foot soldiers, the way it engages the federal government in the intermittent rounds of negotiations over the abducted Chibok girls, for instance, further confirms the existence of such links.

Besides, the terrorists realize that, contrary to what obtains elsewhere, the life of a Nigerian hostage, whether a police officer or soldier abducted at battlefront, or any other Nigerian for that matter, isn’t important enough to prompt the government to engage in serious efforts to rescue or get him released. Instead, the value of his life, as far as the successive Nigerian governments are concerned, is determined by the amount of local and international outcry his abduction provokes. That’s why whenever they manage to capture a soldier or police officer, for instance, they never bother to offer him for a swap deal to retrieve their fellow terrorists captured by government forces, instead, they would simply slaughter him or blow his brains out him in front of a video camera and release the video clip.