In recent times there has been an increased call from the people of South West Nigeria for the convening of what they call a Sovereign National Conference, SNC. On the surface, that may seem impressive, even appealing, especially with the level of anxiety in people’s minds regarding the dire situation in Nigeria. Currently, people trapped inside Nigeria are eager to find quick solutions on how to dissolve the unworkable Nigerian union. When considering viable paths to take and get out of the deadly trap and dysfunctional asylum that is also known as the failed state of Nigeria, almost any suggestion appeals to people’s anxiety. But the appeal of an SNC lasts until you start reading further into the script. As you go down the page, you start to experience some discomfort. The stated aim of the much talked about SNC is to revise the terms of Nigeria’s corporate existence by the various federated nations that are held captive in the Godforsaken union. But this is not the time for mere revisions, as everyone knows the right thing to do: divide Nigeria along existing cultural/religious lines.
The defense of the SNC has its beginning in the political crisis of June 12, 1993, when Ibrahim Babangida canceled the supposed electoral victory of Moshood Abiola. It was used by the political elites of southwestern Nigeria to gain attention and political advantage, and ultimately the Nigerian presidency. Like anything else Nigerian, SNC is a temporary or momentary response to a very fundamental and permanent or recurring question. The question of why the cancellation occurred and how to prevent it from happening in the future was never addressed. It is one of those temporary palliatives or political assets that the elite of the different political blocs of the Nigerian union use to gain positions and power. Wool is thrown in the face of the people with tricks to gain positions and take advantage of the ruling class to the detriment of the people. They are never intended to do permanent good for the majority of people. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, played a similar card to win the Nigerian presidency from Goodluck Jonathan. That has also given birth to the current Boko Haram Islamic jihadist movement in northern Nigeria. With the various shelling and destruction of lives, Boko Haram is playing the same card right now and hopes to win. But these games get the people and the country nowhere. They are deceitful and dishonest tricks that only benefit the ruling class with the loss and destruction of lives, property and the future of the people.
Strictly following the objective of the SNC, people will simply sit down today and talk about how to continue with a single Nigeria or dissolve the union. Of course, nothing definitive or beneficial would be achieved, then a new meeting would be called tomorrow that would say, let’s divide Nigeria or have a weak center or a strong center and so on. I don’t care how anyone thinks about it, but the truth is that a SNC with the current agenda is simply a device of some elements that are hell-bent on maintaining Nigeria’s murderous status quo. In my opinion, the CNS compares to when you try to tunnel through a mountain and remove a few rocks every couple of years. These defenders are stalling for time while, meanwhile, Igbo/Biafrans and other Christians are being killed by One-Nigeria. SNC is like trying to circumnavigate the long and dangerous terrain instead of using the short and least painful route (separation or self-determination of the various federated ethnic nations). CNS advocates go on to say, “Hey, let’s make a little adjustment here and there and eventually we’ll get it right one day.” For them they are in no hurry to get it right in the short term as they have little or nothing to lose. It is not the people on the side of the CNS defenders who are being killed. Your progress and development are not being stunted; they are fine by all standards. Therefore, they can afford to gain time indefinitely.
Every sincere and honest political movement must always be aimed at doing greater good for a greater number of people permanently. And now is the time to use that approach to deal with the situation in Nigeria. Nigerian societies today have some fundamental and permanently irreconcilable differences. These differences underline the very basis of the existence of any society. It strikes at the very heart of a society’s raison d’être and its collective aspiration. If they did it right, then everything will be fine for them, but if they did it wrong, as in the Nigerian situation, then everything will still be wrong. The worldview of the various peoples that make up the current Nigerian state is antagonistically opposed and cannot be reconciled. The culture/religion of a people is the essence of their being or what defines them and the various ethnic components of today’s Nigeria cannot be reconciled. It will continue to be a waste of time, lives and material resources to continue the search for a Nigerian agenda that can never work. The only honest, sincere and permanent good that will be done to the people who bear the brunt of the callous insistence on keeping the unviable-Nigeria is a clear division of the country. Let each group with a similar cultural/religious worldview go their separate ways and begin their nation-building journey.
At this time of day the peoples of the Southeast cannot afford a SNC with its current agenda or so-called “true federalism”. Even the nearly fifty-year-old Aburi Agreement will do the Igbo/Biafrans no good now. There can only be one new, viable roadmap today: Self-Determination. If the supposed purpose of the SNC remains simply to decide at the table how the peoples that make up Nigeria will co-exist or maintain a weak or strong center, then it is a waste of time for the South-East. The position of the people of the South East is that any solution to the Nigerian problem other than a clear division along naturally occurring national/ethnic borders is a waste of time, dishonest and insincere, cannot last and is unacceptable to they. The Igbo/Biafrans want independence and total freedom for Nigeria. They want an arrangement where they can only relate to the rest of the Nigerian components as neighbors and citizens of different countries and nothing more. This is the age of self-determination and Igbo/Biafrean Christians will make the most of the moment to free themselves from Nigerian slavery.
Igbo/Biafreños will not be fooled by anything that seems real. By all indications, the calls to SNC remain nothing less than another hoax disguised as familiar quarters, a delay tactic at best. The South East is not interested in any Nigerian weak or strong center arrangement. The Igbo people of today will not do the job by halves and will leave the coming generations to continue dealing with the same problem of a Nigeria. No, the 1947 India-Pakistan split and the 2011 Sudan-South Sudan split are the examples the Igbo/Biafrans follow. It is also interesting to note that these countries as mentioned were also colonized by the British. The only difference is that when the British left, the people of these countries were honest, sincere and bold enough to return to their old conductive, expedient and cultural/religious pre-colonial borders. They never had to maintain any kind of nonsensical “true federalism” or sentimental infantile “weak/strong center.” They chose the path of wisdom, the path of dignity, the part of permanent peace, the path of respect for the sanctity of human life, and the path of progress and development. You boldly did the right thing by walking the honorable path of Self Determination. These countries chose the only reasonable and dignified path; a clear and complete separation and independence from each other, instead of sticking together and killing each other. No one is forced to win in any ridiculous and piecemeal approach to the bitter problem of diversity in Nigeria. All honest and sincere players in the Nigerian arena have long agreed that there is only one solution: self-determination or the Sudan/South Sudan solution is the only option available to Nigeria. It can only be delayed, but can never be wished away.