[size=15pt]The North-South exodus and the nation’s unity[/size]

January 15, 2012 by ALLWELL OKPI 26







With thousands of Nigerians returning to their states of origin, ALLWELL OKPI examines the situation and what it portends for the polity

Since the beginning of this year, thousands of Nigerians have forcefully migrated or relocated from one place to another, particularly to their regions of origin for the safety of their lives.

Southerners who reside in the North are migrating South while northerners in the South are migrating North; a situation believed to have been triggered by the recent killing of southern Christians in the North and the fear of reprisal attacks on northerners in the South.

These have made several opinion leaders to warn of the imminence of a civil war. They also compared the current level of insecurity in the country with the Nigeria-Biafran civil war that led to the death of about a million people.

However, more frightening is the threat of retaliation brewing in the south from the Niger Delta militias, the Odua People’s Congress and an Igbo revolutionary and counter-terrorism group, Ogbunigwe Ndigbo, making Northern Muslims in the South-East to flee last week.

Due to the seeming failure of the state of emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan to forestall the attacks, various ethnic groups are already prescribing different approaches.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, recently directed all Igbo to remain wherever they were to collectively defend their lives and property while the OPC vowed to reciprocate if they found evidence that the Yoruba were being killed or forced to leave the North.

On its part, the Christian Association of Nigeria announced that Christians were working out modalities to defend themselves against further attacks on churches.

Despite the fact that the situation has been blamed on religious intolerance and political manipulations, former governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, blames it on bad governance, arguing that the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria are too integrated to part ways.

“The root of all these problems is bad governance. The solution is for everybody to join the struggle against bad governance. I don’t think it is proper for southerners to leave the North and northerners to leave the South.

“During the civil war, the northerners that had left the South-East for the North found out that there was nothing for them in the North and some of them had to return to where they left. It was also the same for people from the South-East who left the North; they returned to the North. I even participated in helping some Igbo people find something to do in the North. So people should stop relying on the ethnic and religious differences to divide the country,” he said.

Musa argued that the emirs could not stop the violence largely because they had been stripped of their powers, with state governors having the powers to remove and install emirs.

“Boko Haram was seen as northern problem but today we have seen that Muslim and Christians both from the North and the South are united in this protest against removal of fuel subsidy. A hundred clerics — 50 Muslims and 50 Christians — met with Jonathan to discuss the removal of fuel subsidy and the security situation of the country; all of them had the same stand. In fact, it was difficult to differentiate between Christians and Muslims. So religion is not the problem,” he said.

Musa, who is the Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, blamed the violence in the North on successive governments since the beginning of the Second Republic, that had failed to punish perpetrators of violence and allowing them to go on with impunity.

“For example, after post-election violence in some parts of the North, the Federal Government set up a panel to investigate it. The panel finished their work and said they were not able to find anybody or group responsible for the violence because they were not a judicial panel of inquiry. Till today, government has not done anything with their report or set up a judicial panel of inquiry. Does that not amount to criminal neglect by government?” he asked.

On the possibility of another civil war, Musa said, “Even if it comes to that, it would not be in the interest of anybody. After it, we would still realise that it does not solve anything. We have reached a level of integration and it is not in our interest for any region to separate. Instead we should unite against the rich and powerful who control almost everything in this country.”

On his part, former presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi, a prominent Igbo, noted that the situation required strong leadership and a great deal of responsibility from every Nigerian.

“There are several factors to consider and I don’t believe that the Boko Haram sect is fighting a religious war. We know that this started as a revolt by the northern people against the northern elite. They realised that their elite had taken advantage of them and impoverished them. They only use religion as a platform of expression. The problem is the failure of the Nigerian state to address this issue.

“I think we need to educate the elite in the North that they should not fold their arms and watch things go bad. I know that due to their loss of the presidency, they have decided to stay aloof. They have to realise that if things go wrong, it would fall on everybody including them,” he said.

Utomi said the recent killing of some Igbo men in the North was similar to what happened prior to the civil war, for which he (Utomi) had to leave the North. He added that it was an evidence of the failure of governors of the South-Eastern states to create a good environment for Igbo people to do business in their region.

According to Utomi, in a situation like this, the late Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who led Biafrans in the civil war, would have asked the Igbo to return and rebuild, while someone like the late Michael Okpara, the former premier of the Eastern region, would have gone to the North to demand that Igbo people be protected by northern leaders.

“I remember then before the war, Okpara went all the way to Gusau, in the North-West to ask the northern leaders why they were not protecting Igbo people who were being killed in the region. I think Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, as the head of the South-East Governors Forum, should stop going around to promote Jonathan’s fuel subsidy removal and organise South-Eastern governors to go to the North and demand the protection of Igbo in the North.”

Similarly, the founder of OPC, Fredrick Fasehun, said   no country had survived two civil wars.

“Nigerians love their country, they don’t want another country. If anybody says we should separate, what do we do with an Uche Babalola, or a Babatunde Muhammadu? All these calls for people to return to their places of origin are just fabrications. Nigerians love to remain Nigerians.”

http://www.punchng.com/politics/the-north-south-exodus-and-the-nations-unity/

Well said, Prof. Utomi. Anioma stand up

One united Nigeria we stand, separate Ibo, Hausa, Yoruba we all fall together.

Right on the money prof, 

Our SS, SE, SW, NE, NC governors; over to you.

^^^^WTF?


Well said Prof!

always talking, no action man, is there any developmental project in his village?