Sunday, 27 August 2017

HATE SPEECHES: A POTENT ACID TO NEUTRALIZE A SOCIETY by SHABA Mafu.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as quoted below guarantees the freedom of speech and expression. This freedom is to the extent that it does not violate the rights of others, or used as an incitement to deny or obstruct a society of its legitimate and peaceful co-existence.
Section “39. 1. Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.• Freedom of expression• Freedom of press
2. Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, every person shall be entitled to own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinions:  Provided that no person, other than the Government of the Federation or of a State or any other person or body authorised by the President on the fulfillment of conditions laid down by an Act of the National Assembly, shall own, establish or operate a television or wireless broadcasting station for, any purpose whatsoever.” (Culled from the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria).
Wars, civil, international, and world wars do not start just at the launch of any missiles or gunshots. They all start from speeches – hate speeches; unguided and inflammatory speeches occasioned by lack of restraint and the inconsideration of the future consequence of such speeches. Nations had gone to rubbles by the mismanagement of emotions and speeches from presumably mature minds. Most families, as micro-societies have been ruined by unguided and irrational talks by so-called respectable and responsible adults. Nigeria is dancing graciously into its precipice by relishing hate speeches without considering that it is a palpable fire that can consume millions of both the guilty and the innocent or exterminate the entire country.
Hate speeches molded in provocative images have regrettably become part of the electoral process of Nigerian politics. As a build-up to the 2015 general elections, hate speeches were the order of the day. President Goodluck Jonathan who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party was caricatured in several newspapers to satirically assault him. There was an image of a goat wearing a tie but having the head of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, with the Niger-Delta styled hat. This was to symbolically mean that our then president (the PRESIDENT of Nigeria) was a goat in a political contest. Another picture showed the caricature of the same Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in a coffin. To activate the bestiality of these depraved minds, his campaign convoy was physically attacked in one of the Northern states as at then. This is height of absurdity of a people clamouring for development and sustenance of the hard-earned democracy…dragging the president in the mud because of power-tussle.
 The then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari was not spared either. He was verbally assaulted even by prominent politicians such as the present governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Peter Fayose. He had once described Buhari as a man carrying a numb brain. He insinuated in the campaigns joyously published by TELL Magazine as a who was very close to his grave and that Nigerians were as good as voting for a dead man contesting an election. Is this not political megalomania?
The basics of political campaigns highlighting manifestos and winning the minds of the electorates were thrown to the dustbin. Attacking individuals became a norm, and an acceptable one for that matter! The Electoral Body, that is, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was as toothless as not even attempting to curtail such excesses and improper behaviours of these political gladiators.
Graduating from such display of mental corrosion in the electoral space, Nigerians in highly disdainful tribal jingoism began issuing quit notices to one another on tribal lines. Each tribe living in another’s, was given an ultimatum to relocate to their place of origin. These notices were spiced up with uncivilized and highly provocative speeches calling one another unprintable names with incendious statements. Ironically, once again, these are people who want development. Even within the feuding tribes, there are schisms and undiluted factionalism occasioned by lack of principles and collective drive for a common front. To worsen the whole of this, there is a drum of war sounding deafeningly and each tribe appear to push out its shallow chest that cannot even accommodate a bullet of self-inflicting political misadventure.
It must be made abundantly clear to all of us that hate speeches is the worst thing that can ever happen to mankind. There are no explicit or implied benefits of it in all its ramifications. All it conveys is evil and destruction in its entirety. The Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970 was precipitated by hate speeches, regardless of its remote causes. Holed up in the well of collective blindness, after the horrible loss of millions of lives and property, the feuding parties eventually resorted to settle their scores on the table of deliberations and reconciliations. This was not after the irredeemable carnage. Nigerians should be matured to learn from history. It will be highly catastrophic if we allow hate speeches to fester especially in the present volatile state of the Nigerian nation. It is not enough therefore for the federal government to pass a law treating hate speeches as terrorist acts, or monitoring the social media and regiment public expressions, they must carry out enough campaigns to educate the people on the irrevocable dangers of hate speeches at any levels of human relationship. The government must be sincere in all dealings. I draw my suggestion and counsel judging from the hypocrisy displayed by the Lagos State government who at a time bent the state environmental laws to suit their political purpose. Before the 2011 elections, Lagos State government passed an environmental law making it an offence to post bills indiscriminately on public places. During 2011 political campaigns, posters of the ruling APC and of other political parties littered all the nooks and crannies of the entire state. After the elections, the same government went about removing every poster across the state. What double-faced policy formulation and implementation is this? The federal government must abhor this kind of hypocrisy and policy somersault by engaging WHOEVER makes hate speeches before, during and after electoral campaigns; and under any guise of legitimate or otherwise demands, by individuals or groups, by consistently treating all such as terrorists.
If Nigeria must stay in the path of peace and progress, hate speeches must be discountenanced at all levels of relationship. This law should be made to also outlive the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. It should be taken as statement of policy by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and entrenched in the possible review of the constitution of the Election Management Bodies (EMB).

 Finally, I warn that hate speeches is a potent acid that can completely ruin a society in particular and a country at large. Nigeria, will undoubtedly, not be spared!

Wednesday, 23 August 2017

GARUBA SHEHU AND HIS “PRESIDENTIAL RATS” by SHABA Mafu.



Image result for images of rats
President Muhammadu Buhari returned from his medical vacation from London, just few days ago. His returning alive was greeted with mixed reactions as those who supported him went wild with jubilation, while those who were planning his replacement, thinking the man would die were woefully disappointed. Before his departure to the United Kingdom, the president had presided over the affairs of the nation from his official quarters of residence. So it was not news that the president was working from his official home, even after his return in order to reduce the daily stress of governance as he might need natural rest at home.
While no one believably may not have any grouses against the president working from home, the Special Assistant to the President on Media, Alhaji Garuba Shehu informed the country that the president would be overseeing the affairs of the nation, this time around, not because of the president’s health but that rats have invaded the president’s apartment, therefore the place must be put into proper shape before the president could pack in and use it. I was personally miffed by that untenable and frivolous excuse. How can the office of the president be invaded by rodents? Does it mean that if the president is on vacation, the office becomes abandoned and abominable to be seriously taken care of? Is the apartment very close to the bush to grant easy access to the rats, just like that? Was the entire compound deserted because the president was absent? If rats infested the place actually, it means there is no maintenance culture right from the handlers of the president’s affairs at that level. Even if  Garuba’s rats story is true, does that mean that nobody knew that the President would come at a certain day because that the President obviously did not sneak in to the country like a thief in the night. Why was it that the people could not simply tidy up the place before the arrival of the occupant? Is this not tactical negligence of a mammoth proportion which must be roundly condemned? May be I did not really understand the meaning of the rats’ occupation in Garuba’s term. They may not be the real rats like those commonly found in many parts of Lagos, particularly in Ajegunle, a surburb in Lagos where rats legitimately contend for relevance, with landlords and occupants of houses and apartments.
I suppose that the caked faeces of the rats garnished with the poisonous urine must have blocked the mouth-piece of the table-phone of the president by now? The fragrance that greets the president’s office would have been translated into a repugnant centre capable of comfortably inhabiting the local pigs. The explanation given by Garuba Shehu is embarrassing and demeaning to the office of the president of a country like Nigeria. Even if the president was away for a year, his residence should be properly taken care of, as a mark of respect for that exalted office and the nation in general. It will be unheard of to say, for instance, that Donald Trump of the United States was forced to relocate because while he was away, his office was infested with rats and other sister rodents while those employed to take care of the building continue to earn their undeserved pay.

For purpose of fairness, I do not wish to be judgmental, possibly what Shehu Garuba may actually be referring to are the metaphorical rats and not the common real rats known to the general public. But I counsel that there ought to be a better explanation as to why the president would work from his official home, than to tell the whole country that President Muhammadu Buhari has quietly excused himself from rats only to resume when the entire building is fumigated. What a wonder!

Monday, 21 August 2017

PRESIDENT BUHARI’S RETURN AND ENVISAGED POLITICAL TWISTS by SHABA MAFU.

No mortal has the monopolistic power to dictate when or where or who is to live or die, at any point in time going by natural law. No matter the wishes of evil, the ultimate power to decide how long one lives in this ephemeral contraction called the ‘earth’, is solely determined by God Himself. On this premise, I heartily rejoice with our president Muhammadu Buhari, who not only returned from London after 104 days on medical leave, but returned alive and healthy to meet his country people. I congratulate Nigerians as well that all the medical bills footed by the country did not amount to a waste.  The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo did excellently well at the absence of his boss. He showed loyalty and solidarity in all his dealings. He must be commended for this.
President Buhari did not sneak into the country  following his return, but gave a national broadcast less than seventy-two hours after his arrival, and gave a short but weighty broadcast to the nation which to me touched some very fundamental issues. He acknowledged that his survival of the undisclosed ailment was not just because of the expertise of the London Doctors, nor for the sophistication of their medical gadgets, but attributed all glory to God. This is rightly commendable.
Having spoken to the nation, it behooves of the president to listen to the views of the public. The Nigeria Medical Association (NBA) took on the president to upgrade the medical facilities in the Aso Rock Villa and by extension to all public medical facilities across the country. This will help us take care of emergencies; reduce the bill of health care of public officers and reduce unnecessary transfer of funds in the name of foreign trips for medical attention. The politicians will not abuse that opportunity to siphon and loot our commonwealth to a foreign country. The upgrade will also benefit all other citizens. It is a clarion call to the government which must be taken very seriously.
The  Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, (AYF), the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Nnamdi Kanu, the coalition of Niger-Delta militants, should by now have a serious rethink  on their threats to break the nation into pieces, because the president has clearly stated that the unity of this country is settled and “non-negotiable”. The president has acknowledged the fact that there were legitimate requests or demands by these groups but must be addressed on the platform of a united country. The divisive tendencies of these people must therefore not be allowed to materialize. Every one of them has set October 1, 2017, as the deadline for those issued notices to finally quit wherever they are domiciled. October 1st is the day for the commemoration of our independence from the British overlords and cannot be used to needlessly shed the blood of fellow Nigerians or cause needless mayhem across the country. The president must call these groups together and discuss with them. He needs to drum senses into their heads. It pays more to live together. I strongly opine that the energy expended by these groups on potentially fruitless expeditions, be channeled to put more pressure on the government to restructure the country. This is more important and beneficial to all the geo-political zones, than the aimless and senseless quit notices flying all over the country.
The president should also look critically into the case of the cabals who undermined the Vice-president when he was acting at the absence of the president. These cabals reportedly went to London to present a document to the ailing president to sign whilst the executive powers were transmitted fully to Professor Yemi Osinbajo who was legitimately on the acting capacity and ought to have signed those documents. These cabals are ethic jingoists and separatists who by their actions slighted not only the Vice-President but the President himself. They are hypocrites and traducers capable of causing political tensions in a country they claim they are working for. They do not have the moral temerity to continue to work with a government they so disdain. They should not only be sacked from their offices but tried for insubordination and rebellion to a constituted authority and finally be blacklisted from holding any public office for a certain period of time.
Finally, the boko haram should be handled more decisively because they have increased their demonic onslaught on soft targets. The harams must be handled with maximum force, if need be, by the military. I am confident that the country is moving in the positive direction.
On the President’s return, Kogi State on its own had declared one day public holiday to welcome back the president. While his return is worth celebrating, it is a complete waste of resources (man-power) to declare a public holiday especially as yesterday was even a Sunday (day of worship). The prayers in the church on Sunday should suffice.  The muslims and the Christians have been praying for the president’s health and safe return, therefore declaring a full day as a holiday just to welcome or pray or celebrate the president’s return is a waste of man hours as far as I am concerned.
 I know there are going to be lots of positive political twists in days ahead. The president has returned.





Friday, 18 August 2017

CIRCULATION OF NIGERIAN POLITICAL ELITES AND THEIR TACTICAL BUTCHERING OF THE DOWNTRODDEN by SHABA Mafu. (concluding part)

 Presently, the political tempo in Nigeria is very high. Most people have been inundated with the clamour for restructuring.  Nigeria is presently a federal ‘structure’ without the components of a federal arrangement. It is outrightly paradoxical to state that Nigeria is a federal state. It is a misnomer to assume that claim. At the best, Nigeria operates a Unitary state garbed with a federal constitution. A true federal structure has federating units with each unit having direct relationship with the ruled with some fiscal rights and privileges. A federating unit is loosely related to the government at the centre such as obtainable in Canada and the USA. It is not entirely dependent or subservient to the government at the centre just as it is the case of Nigeria. In a federal arrangement, there is complete devolution of power where the central government tackles only some fundamental items on the exclusive list such as Defence, Currency and international relations. The federating units are expected to pay grants, royalties and taxes to the central government for the smooth running of the central government.
In the era of regional government of Nigeria in the early years of Nigeria’s independence, there was less agitation from the respective regions, except for the unfortunate civil war experienced in 1967. Besides, there was positive competitive development in the regions. Some political elites are desperately resisting this arrangement because of their pathological selfishness and their political calculations to continue to milk the country of its real and potential fortunes. Knowing full well that with the practice of true federalism in Nigeria, the government at the centre will lose its potency in raping the regions or states of their fortunes. To continue in the butchering of the underprivileged, the politicians will revive all their tendons and nerves to resist this laudable proposal of restructuring. More so, some of the senators are eyeing the presidency where the executive President has almost the ultimate power to exclusively control the wealth of the nation. In the present arrangement of the constitution of Nigeria, the Executive President is super-powerful. The refusal to adopt a true and normal federalism is a ploy to perpetually ‘butcher’ the suffering and deprived people of the oil-rich Niger-Delta; the highly industrous South-Easterners; the exposed and vibrant South-Westerners and the agriculturally-endowed Northerners. These regions, if allowed to constitutionally fester on their own while still maintaining a federal arrangement, will plunge this nation into unprecedented growth and development. But the political vampires will never allow this to be. They will lose their double salaries, pensions from several fronts, building of two houses – one in Lagos and the other in Abuja, with several domestic servants even after leaving office. This is the evil lice that glued obstinately to the political scrotum of the country.
I support the call for restructuring of this country. If the constitution is reviewed to give vent to true federalism, Nigeria will grow so fast to occupy an enviable place among the comity of nations. There will be healthy competition for development among the federating units. This will be the greatest achievement of this ruling All Progressives Congress Political party because they will represent the desire of advocates of true federalism, the protagonists and advocates of the Change mantra which APC stands for. I call on all well-meaning Nigerians to stick to this clamour for restructuring, and also urge the true democrats in the ruling party and other stakeholders both in Nigeria and in the Diaspora to insist on restructuring the country for the purpose of even development and pragmatic way of dealing with corruption, while collectively building a virile, prosperous and a united country.


CIRCULATION OF NIGERIAN POLITICAL ELITES AND THEIR TACTICAL BUTCHERING OF THE DOWNTRODDEN (PART 1) by SHABA Mafu.


One of the banes of political development of Nigeria and the advancement of the Nigerian youths is the circulation of the political elites in the political space in Nigeria. The politicians are so engrossed in their own design and selfishness to the extent that they see themselves as only the most competent cliché that are endowed to rule. A concept called ‘anointed candidates’ is a derogatory concept been coined to perpetrate their cliché in power. For the purpose of clarity, an anointed candidate is a political contestant who has been designed and regimented to win an election at all cost as long as he aligned with the dictates of the political godfathers irrespective of the result of the Electoral management Body or the collective will of the people. The godfathers become indirect rulers upon the victory of their anointed candidates. This is the ROOT-cause and course of elite circulation in Nigerian politics. This pejorative pathway informs the directionless and cosmetic decamping of politicians who hop from one political party to the other seeking for the benevolence of godfathers to win elections and perpetuate the political dynasty without any ideological persuasions or convictions.
History is replete with Nigerian politicians who had recycled themselves in the nation’s political stage. This recycling may be borne out of personal fortune or by circumstantial design. But those who have established and perpetrated a political dynasty by deliberate design of fraud having scuttled the opportunities of those who may have been more instrumental in the building of this nation have committed political atrocity.
In 1976, after the gruesome assassination of General Murtala Mohammed, General Olusegun Obasanjo became the Head of state. He handed over willingly to a civilian government in 1979. Twenty years after, he was elected the president of the nation and characteristically handed over to his successor in 2007, though after a struggle with a third-term bid. General Muhammadu Buhari became the military Head of State after a successful coup d’état against the government of Alhaji Shehu Aliu Shagari on the 31st of December, 1983. He was elected as the executive president of the country after thirty-one years. These are rare circumstances that fell into place in Nigeria’s political space. Be that as it may, deliberate political schemers have infiltrated the scenario to create a dynasty for themselves by turning the political space into a hereditary.
The trending event is the deadly scheming of some politicians to perpetually shuttle between the government Houses at all the levels. If they are feeling expired and corrosively irrelevant, they would plant their relations, surrogates or their anointed candidates. They basically relish this political iniquity because of the attendant benefits and several dishes of political pots of soups they foister for themselves in these offices. Some former governors do all they can to retain their political relevance by taking centre-stage in politics. Some of these governors are currently serving as senators and Ministers of the federal republic. For purpose of emphasis on the insatiable greed for perpetual relevance of some of our politicians, it is instructive to note that the longest serving Senator from the Eastern part of the country and the former convener of the Association for Better Nigeria, ABN, (which was instrumental to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 general elections), Uche Chukwumerije is still in the service of the nation at the Upper legislature of the National Assembly. Ike Ikweremadu has been in the senate for quite a long time now and has almost transmuted to a household name in the Senate. The former Governor of Osun State, Chief Isiaka Adeleke, who died recently was also a serving Senator and it was even rumoured that he wanted to contest for governorship elections again before his sudden demise. This is the circle of political elites and the mess Nigerian politics has dangerously subjected to, consequently barring the youths from ever been hopeful of gaining access to the political terrain.
On the platform of the old and circulating politicians monopolizing the political terrain, the hopelessness of the youths is becoming uncomfortably glaring. This spurned the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to urge the youths to take their political destinies in their hands and wrestle power from these sit-tight and progressively irrelevant political schemers. It was not surprising therefore to be treated to a protest tagged #NotTooYoungToRule#staged recently organized and executed at Abuja by a group of concerned youths. This move has ‘forced’ the Senate House to propose a bill which reduces the age of contestants for elections to political positions in the country. The youths must tighten their noose against all intents of the elites to plunge the political terrain into family or clannish heritage. The politics in Kwara State is a pointer to the fact that some politicians in Nigeria are ready to castrate the youths or the under-privileged by holding the entire nation in the jugular, as they are ready to die in politics ‘serving’ their fatherland.
Recently, The Social-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) one of the civil society organizations which is a pincer on the testicles of these politicians has revealed how ex-governors, including the current serving Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, been receiving pensions as a former Governor. Senator Bukola has allegedly stopped and even returned the pensions he has collected from the coffers of Kwara State where he was the governor for eight years. This is an embarrassment. Would such a honourable man claim his unawareness that he was been paid pensions as a former Governor and now a serving Senator in the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Would he have ordered a stoppage of such shameful act if SERAP had not blown out the alarm? If he claimed innocence, what action did he take to deal with those who attempted to besmear his public image and political career by surreptitiously filling up his accounts without his own prior permission every month? While commending him for taking a honourable path to own up such misdeeds and stopping the act, I personally felt that just stopping or returning the loot is not enough. Such an act of greediness is a misplacement of public trust, an act of corruption, deception, and deliberate or permissive stealing. Under a normal clime, the Senate President who heads a national legislature should have resigned and submits himself for prosecution after rigorous public apology. It is a shameful action unbecoming of a man of such a high profile especially as a man who is serving under a government fighting corruption as one of its cardinal programmes. Collecting double salaries or pensions is evil because some senior citizens who had meritoriously served this country for thirty-five years receive #5000 (five thousand Naira only) as their monthly pensions, while the monthly allowances for domestic pets of these senators and Ministers can change the entire generations of the pauperized retirees.

(concluding part tomorrow)

Friday, 4 August 2017

BIAFRA REPUBLIC: TRIVIALIZING THE SECESSION STRUGGLE by SHABA Mafu.


The agitation for the Independent State of Biafra began almost when the last British colonialist lifted his foot finally off the soil of Nigeria. Few years after independence of Nigeria from the colonial rule of the British, precisely January 15, 1966, there was the first military coup d’état led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu of the South-Eastern part of the nation resulting in the coming in as the military Head of State, Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Ibo man of the  South-Eastern extraction. Though the coup had nothing to do with secession bid, the reaction to the coup by the Northern military officers and the people from that region, led to the  agitation for Biafran secession from the ‘contraction’ they called Nigeria, on the long-run. The January coup was targeted at the elimination of some certain key personalities of the North such as the Prime-Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, the Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello and others. However, it was countered in a bloody coup staged in July 29th of same year by some young military man from the Northern part of the country. Before the July counter-coup, there was a reported pogrom in the North against the Ibos of the South-East as an additional affliction suffered along with those murdered in the counter-coup later staged.  The Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi was murdered in the counter-coup.  The unbearable massacre of the Ibos became a build-up to the thirty months civil war of attrition in an attempt for the Biafrans to secede from the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The protagonist and head of the Biafran secession bid was late Major Odumegwu Ojukwu, while the then Nigerian Head of State at the time was Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon. Millions of Nigerians died in that war of bitterness. It was a war that Nigerians cannot forget in the annals of this nation. Nigeria celebrates the end of this war by a yearly national programme called the Army Remembrance Day which is usually marked 15th of January every year, the day the civil war was declared over in 1970.
After the civil war, the Ibos had felt seriously marginalized especially in the political distribution of the country till now. Ironically, ever since Major- General Aguiyi Ironsi, the murdered Head of State ruled Nigeria for barely six months, no one from that geographical zone had ever headed this country again. The Ibos had been terribly embittered by this continuous treatment of monumental marginalization. Accompanied with other sundry factors, the Ibos strongly felt that the best way for them to fulfill destiny as a nation was to launch a secession bid to cut itself off and out of the whole entity called Nigeria. Fuelled by the fact that Nigeria as a political cum geographical contraction orchestrated by the British without the consent of the indigenous players, the Ibos felt they had the right to also secede from the arrangement without undue inhibition from any quarters.
The Ibos had adopted different approaches to drive home their agitation, first to the Nigerian state and then to the international community. Some of the approaches were sometimes not only confrontational to the Nigerian government but violently executed, with the government repressing the agitators and sometimes branding the leaders as having committed treasonable felony. Different groups have consequently emerged from the same region for the same purpose.  This is to roundly articulate their position of frustration and enduring bitterness of marginalization. Groups like Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) led by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike;  Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by Nnamdi Kanu;  Biafra Zionist Federation (BZF) headed by Benjamin Igwe Onwuka.  These groups with their different leaders had not worked coherently with other political leaders of the same geographical zone. There have been times of serious disagreements with the citizens and the governors of the Eastern states. For instance, IPOB under Nnamdu Kanu, had categorically stated that it is going to disrupt the forth-coming Anambra State gubernatorial elections come November 18, 2017.  Besides, he has established Biafra Radio where constantly launches his campaign of hate speeches against the Nigerian state. This position has put him at loggerheads, not only with the governors of the States of the region but also against prominent lbo leaders and the federal government at large. The federal government has already issued a warning through the Department of State Services (DSS) that it will deal with anyone or group which attempts to disrupt the in-coming gubernatorial elections, however, MASSOB tacitly supports the governorship elections coming up.
The clamour for the Biafran nation took another twist when Nnamdi Kanu having recently regained his freedom from incarceration had demanded that the government had to objectively conduct a referendum to determine the true mindset of the people of the South-East whether they still want to be part of Nigeria or not. The government’s response to this particular call has been cold. It had rather preached the potency of maintaining in diversity. Nigerian nation is an indivisible entity made to grow and flourish in unity despite our differences – this is the definite response of the government.  This is to mean that the Biafra agitation and quest for a referendum cannot hold water, at least for now; as such the demand for a referendum may never see the light of the day. The position of the government has always angered the Ibos (the Easterners) the more. In the course of time, one could neatly observe that the groups agitating for the independence of this region are definitely not united as one. They appear uncoordinated, highly incoherent in their collaborative efforts to achieve a common goal. The approaches adopted are turning the entire struggle into a mockery, thus trivializing the entire project.
On the 1st of August, 2017, one of the groups, Biafra Zionist Federation led by Benjamin Igwe Onwuka declared the secession of the Republic of Biafra without consultations with leaders of other groups like Chief Ralph Uwazuruike of MASSOB and Nnnamdi Kanu of IPOB. He unanimously declared the republic without any geographical delineation or hoisting of Biafran flag(s) anywhere on the ‘Biafran’ land. There was no evidence of the Biafran currency. The leader of the Zionist Federation who is the ‘interim President’ of the new nation, addressing the Nigeria Union of Journalists at Enugu Secretariat (Enugu is in the Federal Republic of Nigeria) announced the secession and the consequent independence of the Republic of Biafra. This same Onwuka had at a time on June 5, 2014, attempted but failed to declare the secession of the Republic.  He was arrested and charged with treason. But this time around, he has taken a bolder and more ridiculous step by announcing his new cabinet in the newly declared Republic. Obviously, the secession was certainly without any ceremonies and it appears that the federal Government of Nigeria has simply ignored his childishness.
In the new cabinet formed by the interim President of the Biafra Republic are Professor Charles Soludo for Governor of the Central Bank of Biafra; Professor Pat Utomi as Foreign affairs Minister; Ms Arunah Oteh for Finance; Chief Nnia Nwodo, Ambassador of the Republic of Biafra to the United states of America; Professor Jerry Gana  from Niger State for Information; Labaran Maku for Aviaition; Professor Nnaji for Energy; Gabriel Osagie Oluwole for Education; Mrs Okafor will be in charge of Trade and Industry, while Benny Lar (from Plateau State in Nigeria) will be the Secretary to the Republic of Biafra. Meanwhile, the ‘president’ would pay great allegiance to America and Israel, because America, particularly, had recognized Biafra Republic when Barak Obama was the President of America. The two strong nations (America and Israel) had been given serious assignment of ‘securing and sustaining’ the new republic. Consequently, Biafra will operate as their suzerain state for now.
While all these are in progress, the Kanu-led faction has predicated his own declaration upon referendum and the complete or appreciable exodus of the Ibos to the South come October 1, 2017 deadline given by the Arewa (Youths) Consultative Forum (ACF) of the Northern extraction, led by Ambassador Yerima Shettima. We would not know whether Kanu will eventually become the permanent president of the new nation or form part of the Kitchen-cabinet of the present arrangement of ‘President’ Benjamin Igwe Onwuka. That as it may, where is the place of Ralph Uwazuruike in all these arrangements?
History reminds us that Lt. col Odemegwu Ojukwu in his time was more deft and decisive than this childish dance in the arena. He staked his life and all he had for the redemption of his people. He had all plans and arrangement on ground before declaring his new republic in the mid 60s before the civil war began. Biafran flags were hoisted, their currency were in circulation, there was geographical delineation, there was a fighting force of the Biafran soldiers who fought to defend the territorial integrity of a well-defined new nation. It was truly a secession plan. All these outstanding preparations are obviously lacking in Onwuka’s jocular new Biafra and his seceding comrades. As for Nnamdi Kanu, most of the acclaimed followers are the peasants who have neither economic power to wield nor any connections to ensure the possibility, survival or sustenance of a new independent nation even if the secession succeeds. All the struggles of the contemporary times are childish and a pure mockery of a serious-minded people with a fundamental project at hand. This is purely a mockery of a secession bid.
Nigeria can achieve greatness as one indivisible nation. The best way to accommodate every section of this country is to restructure the country even through mass referendum or the implementation of the popular and well-articulated provisions of the 2014 constitutional conference held under the leadership of the former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
Every section of Nigeria will fare better if we reverse to the old or modernized regional structure with more attendant characteristics of a true federal arrangement. This will reduce the cries of marginalization across the country. With this proposed arrangement, the Ibos can climb to the highest ladder of the political terrain of the country when the central government is deliberately made less attractive. The regions can be allowed to develop at its own pace with healthy developmental competitiveness with one another.  The regions can regulate effectively their religions activities and also field their regional police. With this arrangement, the central government will concentrate on maintaining the exclusive list generally agreed to by all regions, with special reference to defence, currency and external relations. The issue of resource control shall be in the concurrent list. While the federal government controls international boundaries, regions are allowed to control the resources within their jurisdictions with the attendant royalties and necessary taxes remitted to the central purse of the federal government.

While the Biafrans have legitimate rights to protest their obvious marginalization, just as other parts of the country also cry of being marginalized in one way or the other, the solution does not lie in breaking into pieces, but of unity in diversity through consensual restructuring.