It was Hugo Grotius, a political scientist, who said this: “Governments come and go; but, a state remains forever.” But is this political axiom true in our today’s world? Not only do governments come and go; but also countries do break up into smaller nation – states. Some countries’ maps and boundaries have been re-drawn as some ethnic nations in those countries seceded from them.
World history is replete with stories about countries that disintegrated. USSR, a former super-power country, was composed of fifteen republics. But it disintegrated owing to the failure of its glasnost and perestroika system. Yugoslavia broke up into smaller countries; and Czechoslovakia dismembered, too. India and Pakistan used to be one country before now. In Africa, Somaliland emerged from Somali; and South Sudan broke away from Sudan. And Eritrea was formerly a part of Ethiopia. The number of countries that suffered dismemberment is many.
Till now, the wave of agitation for self-determination by ethnic nationalities is sweeping across the world. The Basque people in Spain are agitating for state-hood. Recently, the Scottish people conducted a referendum to determine their continued stay in Great Britain. Sadly, those agitating for the political emancipation of Scotland failed to achieve their goal.
The reasons behind the eruption of ethnic feelings and chauvinism in some countries which give rise to clamour for statehoods by ethnic nations are legion. A people in a heterogeneous country who are marginalized in their country’s scheme of things would battle to have a country of their own. Political domination of a minor ethnic group by bigger ones can lead to agitation for political sovereignty by the minor ethnic group. Ethnic hatred is the reason why nation-states in Africa descend into violent conflicts. Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Rwanda and others were ravaged by wars in the past. In Kenya, they are conscious of their ethnic origins; so, the kikuyu, Luo, and some other ethnic groups in Kenya do battle fiercely for the control of political power at the centre.
Back home, in Nigeria, since the inception of Nigeria, ethnic nationalities that make up the country have been making attempts to secede from Nigeria. During the colonial era, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, a Yoruba Cultural Cum political group, declared their intention to leave the Nigeria union. The Hausa-Fulani people, who lay claim to being the sole and eternal custodian of political power in Nigeria, stated unequivocally in their nine point programme that they would like to secede from Nigeria. Isaac Adaka Boro, the Ijaw nationlist, declared the Niger-delta republic, which was short-lived.
The clamour by the diverse ethnic groups in Nigeria to leave the Nigerian federation has not died down even with the dawn of civilian administration in the country. Now, some terrorist groups with divisive ideologies have sprung in Nigeria. The Oodua group is to the south-west what MEND is to the Niger-delta people. In the past, The MEND group employed violent methods to express their displeasure with the Nigerian government. The Niger-delta militants would kidnap expatriate oil workers to express their grouse about the despoliation and degradation of their waters, eco-system, and soil through oil exploration by foreign oil companies. However, the militants were granted amnesty and rehabilitated by President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, which stemmed the tide of violence in the oil delta region.
But, now in Nigeria, it is the Boko Haram insurgency in the north that is threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria as one country. The number of victims of Boko Haram insurgency is mounting daily. Those displaced by the insurgency have sought refuge in neigbouring countries. The urgent and speedy containment of the murderous group has become a desideratum since the activities of the group have the capacity of plunging Nigeria into a civil war.
While the north is on the boil, and has been turned to a sea of blood, the Indigenous People Of Biafra , a separatist group, has been staging peaceful protests in the south-east for the release of Nnamdi Kanu. The clamour for the independence of the Biafran state has gained momentum and currency with the speeches read on Radio Biafra by Nnamdi Kanu. The Pro-Biafra agitator was arrested upon his return to Nigeria. His arrest and detention triggered the protests, which paralyzed economic activities in the south-east for some days.
But have we forgotten that the folk-hero with winsome smile, Colonel Emeka Ojukwu , declared the independence of the state of Biafra in the 1960s when the Igbos living in the north suffered genocidal decimation? The federal government fought the secessionists for thirty months. The lives and properties destroyed in the gratuitous civil war cannot be quantified. Our country hasn’t recovered from the effects of the ravages of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war.
Sadly, the desire for the creation of the Biafra state has resurfaced and resurged. In response to the agitation for the creation of the Biafra state, the Nigerian army is engaging in unnecessary sabre-rattling as though the indivisibility of Nigeria was sacrosanct and inviolable. History has shown that a people who are alienated and marginalized have right to strive for the attainment of self-determination. The subtle threat by the government to use military might to subdue the Biafra agitators is provocative and insensitive.
The question that should agitate the minds of every patriotic Nigerian is this: what is behind the Igbo youths’ romance with the idea of the independent state of Biafra? The intractable Boko Haram insurgency and the Pro-Biafra protests are traceable to many factors, chief among them is the structural imbalances existing in Nigeria. Inequity and lack of egalitarianism in a country predispose it to suffering violent convulsions. Kids of Igbo origin seeking admission into unity schools are required to score high grades in the entrance examinations. But their compatriots and colleagues from the north who have low grades are being admitted into unity schools. These differential treatments that are meted out to Nigerians cause indignation, anger and discontentment to well up in our hearts.
And past and current civilian administrations in the country have treated Nigerians with utter contempt. Our leaders have failed to address the issues that bedeviled our country. Millions of university graduates are without jobs. Those unemployed people are with the feelings of disillusionment. A person with revolutionary ideas can mobilize those disgruntled youths and instigate them to embark on secessionist move.
To some people, the Biafran idea is not about carving out a geographical space for Biafra. It has got to do with redressing the ills that have afflicted our country and giving restitution to victims of Nigeria’s past egregious and inhumane political leaderships. The proposed Biafran State is with geographical indeterminacy, however.
Chiedu Okoye is Patriotic and a lover of politics.
