This viewpoint is a random thought on the ongoing National Conference which purpose is to restructure the Nigerian nation. It is unfortunate that the delegates representing Imo State were appointed with a sleight of hand without constituting any technical committee of elders or a Think-tank to make inputs on the empanelling of a First Eleven Team for Imo State. We do not know the criteria used in appointing the delegates but on a general note, one can admit that, perhaps, with the exception of a female delegate whose suitability for a delegate is suspect, the others are people of integrity in who Imo people should be proud of. However, they would have performed better if a forum was created for them to interact with stakeholders in Imo State. It is not good that the governor simply used sleight of hand to pick the delegates and swiftly sent them to Abuja without creating enabling environment for them to interact with the people. It is pathetic that a team that is representing Imo State has been cut of from the people as it is not possible to reach them either through phone calls, text messages and the like. Although the Confab will soon wind down, the delegates have not tried to use any forum to give NDIMO a peep into what goes on in the Conference. Even those who could be easily reached on phone before now have since stopped taking their calls. It hurts that an event in which the Igbo are very passionate about has finally come but NDIMO are not being carried along in the process.
The first shock was what transpired in Owerri when the Senator Okorounmi –led Technical Committee on the Summit visited Imo State to interact with the Imo and Abia populace. Governor Okorocha failed to accommodate them “on the grounds that Imo State is not part of the conference- courtesy of Radio Nigeria Owerri prime news(6am) on the day of the event. It was on account of this that those who arrived Owerri that morning were asked to proceed to Umuahia where Governor T.A.Orji of Abia State had provided adequate space for the public to interact with the group. It hurts that Ndimo have not been allowed to optimally take advantage of the conference through reaching out to their delegates. As a result of the perfunctory attitude to the Conference by Imo political leaders, Ndimo have not been to make as much as the proverbial firewood as possible from climbing this Iroko tree which the Conference has become. Most Igbo men know the folklore caveat/maxim that whoever climbs the Iroko tree must make as much firewood as possible since the climbing of Iroko trees is a rarity. Can one say in conscience that we ,Ndigbo, are putting the Confab to optimal use?
The National Conference itself is a fallout from the incessant terrorist attacks of a section of this country by the Islamic terrorist Group which is called BOKO HARAM Group. What is today referred as the Boko Haram Menace in Nigeria could be traced to the Fatwa which the leader of the Muslims in Nigeria and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji SA’AD Abubakar 111 declared in 2007 when he called on the Muslim group in the North, the Jama’tu Nasril Islam(JNI) to stop the spread of Christian Evangelism in the North. It is important to emphasize that the Sultan of Sokoto and President of Jama’atu Nasril Islam(JNI), Alhaji SA’AD Abubakar 111, had during a meeting of Northern Emirs at Arewa House on 2/7/2007 expressed concern over the increasing missionary activities in the country and urged the JNI to take steps to counter the development(Daily Champion, Thursday, July 5, 2007:5). So, the Boko Haram terrorists and deviants are acting out a script presented to them by the Northern elites and Emirs. It’s correct to state that the Boko Haram is a pet project of the Emirs and Northern elite. This topic will be given a more in-depth approach elsewhere.
Meanwhile, I wish to appeal to our electronic media channels to make efforts to present these Imo delegates on their channels to enable the populace interact with them through phone-in programmes.This is important because we do not have access to them and those whose access we had have stopped picking their calls. On the other hand, the delegates should note that they are not representing the interest of whoever appointed them but , rather they are representing the interest of Igbo nation in general and Imo State in particular. We expect them to emulate the example of some good legislators who periodically render constituency briefings to their constituents. Time is running out.
Members of the National Conference should not dissipate energy in discussing such trivialities as the provision of grazing land for Fulani herdsmen because time is of the essence and there are more critical issues to be discussed. The delegates from the South should not lose sight of the fact that the real issues have not yet been discussed. So, they should guard against any ploy by any groups to use diversionary tactics in a bid to frustrate discussions on the crucial topics. The southern delegates must ensure that a dispassionate review is given to issues like the so-called Indissolubility and Indivisibility of the Nigerian nation.
There is nothing sacrosanct in the so-called Nigerian monolith, after all, God did not create us as Siamese twins from Adam. A clause must be inserted into the Constitution so that any federating unit that is no longer interested can do a plebiscite/referendum in order to bow out of the county, should the plebiscite succeed. Nigeria is not Kirikiri prison where criminals are incarcerated against their will. Friendship cannot be by force. Although the Bible warns that what God has put together let no man put asunder, wedded couples who have sworn to live together until death does them apart still divorce and go their different ways, how much less a country that is an agglomeration of disparate ethnic groups. It is my opinion that the Southern candidates should be thinking of a Greater South where the entire South of Nigeria will coalesce into a new country while the Boko Haram States can form their own country in order to actualize their fantasy of an Islamic State.
Present realities have shown that there is no way a Southerner-Christian or Muslim- in Nigeria who believes in the sanctity of human life can share nationality with the Boko Haram groups who can move into a school under cover of darkness and massacre hundreds of defenceless students or worshippers in a church. At other times, they abduct a large number of female students and keep them in captivity. Even now, there is no evidence that what happened in Chibok on April 15th was not a deliberate plot to humiliate and abuse the female Christian students in that secondary school in CHIBOK. How come that in a Moslem- dominated enclave, over 70 % of the alleged abducted female students are Christians? But was there really a kidnap or abduction, or is it a ploy to deceive the unwary?The Northern Emirs and elite who are behind this show of shame should know that we are no imbeciles or mediocrities; we can see through the veneer of their subterfuge. How can you share an apartment with a person whose faith says he will go to paradise if he kills you , an infidel , even when your own doctrine says “Thou shall not kill”? How can you be in the same country with a person who, contrary to the teachings of Islam, has been, perhaps, brainwashed to believe that the Quaran says that the search for knowledge(western education) is evil, even when your own Bible says ”My people perish for want of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)”.Is it not suicidal to be in partnership with such a deviant? The interminable crises in Nigeria are caused by the fact that we have been making efforts in squaring a circle, even when we know full well that this is an exercise in futility. So, our delegates from the South and Imo State in particular must ensure that the Section of the Constitution that talks of Indissolubility and Indivisibility of Nigeria is expunged and a proviso for a pull out by an aggrieved federating unit be inserted, should the need arise. If anything, this proviso will act as a barometer, a thermostat to checkmate the impunity of the like of those who think they are born to rule. However, my heart bleeds for our Christian brethren who occupy a large chunk of the Northern population; it is for the sake of this group that I often go sober on issues about the balkanization of Nigeria.
Another area of critical concern is the area of Fiscal Federalism and Resource Control. Our Igbo/Southern delegates must never make mistakes on this issue so that they will not incur the wrath of the populace. There is a need to stress that prior to the military seizure of power in 1966, revenue sharing formular for the regions was based on 50 per cent derivation. It is pertinent to state that as a result of emerging realities, the present 13 % derivation formular is no longer sustainable. The Southern delegates must insist on 50% which was the derivation rate under the pre-War Nigeria. If derivation was put at 50 % in the Independence Constitution when we had tin and groundnut pyramids as foreign exchange earners, why has it collapsed to a pathetic 13 % today? The reason is not far to seek. What happened was that the Northern Military ruiners, sorry, rulers abused their positions by severally reducing the 50 % derivation to a mere 13 per cent. Now that we want to restructure the country and tell ourselves the truth, that dichotomy must be redressed. This is why Kano State has 44 Local Government Areas(LGAs) while its opposite number in the South, Lagos has just a paltry 20 LGAs. It is also the reason the South East has a mere five states while others have six or seven states.
There is a need to emphasize that there is no other place in the world where people troop to the country’s capital to share monthly allocations from the Consolidated Fund. It is only in Nigeria that the federating units gather at the nation’s capital to share someone else’s money. Whose money are they sharing in Abuja every month? The money they are sharing belongs to the oil-bearing areas of the Niger Delta Region; it should not be seen as a windfall ,a manna from Heaven. Even the Manna from Heaven was for a specific group-the Israelites; it was not meant for every Tom, Dick and Harry.The oil-beariong states should mine their oil and pay tax to the Federal Government as is done in other democracies.
The ongoing debate in the National Conference on the need for government to provide grazing land for cattle is an unnecessary digression which must be nipped in the bud. There is a need to emphasize from the outset that it is not the business of either the Federal Government or the state governments to provide free grazing land for use by Fulani herdsmen. This statement is validated by the fact that it is not the business of the Federal/ State governments to provide free business offices for those Nigerians who are plying their business in other walks of life. At this stage in our development , the Fulani herdsmen and their chieftains must imbibe the technology of operating ranches. Ranch could be defined as “a large farm where cattle or other animals are bred”. This practice which is very common in North America or even Australia should be introduced in Nigeria now, more so, since the Fulani are vehement in telling us that they love their animals more than they love other human beings. Above all, the Fulani herdsmen pose a threat to society as they are fully equipped with AKA 47 Rifles and other weapons of war. They maim rape and kill defenceless people in their host communities. This idea of compelling the animals to trek over long distances is an anathema as it is nauseating and antiquated. it tantamount to barefaced cruelty to animals , more so, since we all belong to the mammalian family. The Fulani should not do their cattle business in someone else’s business premises. Is it possible for one to see cows and cattle being moved in the streets of New York, London, Texas and the like. The Fulani nomads are in business and this should not be done by hijacking someone else’s facility or land.
The NASS should promulgate a Law to outlaw the moving of cattle in the streets of Nigeria. Government should not have any business providing Fulani herdsmen with grazing land or ranch. It is this dichotomy of over-pampering and spoon feeding the Fulani that makes them to constitute a menace to the larger society and often deludes himself with the nebulous brain wave that he is born to rule. By the way, are they born to rule human beings or animals?
More important is that , the way these animals are punished and subjected to torture while on transit is deleterious and inimical to both their health condition and even that of human beings who consume them. One does not need to be a Professor in Veterinary Medicine to know that when these animals are reared in dirty and unhealthy places, they are vulnerable and susceptible to contracting the virus of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy(BSE) and its human equivalent called Creutzfeidt-Jacob disease(CJD). BSE is defined as a fatal brain disease of cattle; it’s also called mad cow disease. The Mad Cow Disease is very deadly and has a high rate of fatality. Once it breaks out, it can be as dangerous as Ebola fever or Bird Flu pandemic/influenza. The Creutzfeidt-Jacob disease (CJD) which could be traced to the Mad Cow Disease is defined as a disease of the nervous system caused by a slow-acting virus which eventually affects human beings.
So, the bottom line of this thesis is that these Fulani herdsmen must rear their animals in line with international Best Practices. They must be sensitized on the imperatives of owing ranches so that the cattle are not subjected to unnecessary torture and above all to obviate the incessant clashes with those whose farm lands and agricultural produce are vandalized by these cattle. On a more important note, restricting the movements of the cattle to ranches will save humankind the risk of contracting the deadly virus of BSE and its human equivalent called Jacob-Creutz disease. In the second part of this analysis, it will be pertinent to throw the search light into some of the critical areas that must engage the attention of our delegatesFinally, there is a dire need for our Igbo delegates to forge a working relationship with the members of the Nation Assembly especially with such principal officers of NASS as HON Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Speaker, Federal House of Representatives and Senator Ike Ekweremadu. Deputy Senate President. The imperatives of such a synergy cannot be overstressed. (To Be Concluded)
JOHN MGBE
johnmgbe@yahoo.com
