Tony Ochelebe|17 June 2017
We have never been one. No. Not even in the clamour and agitation for independence was our voices one. But we were left all the same by the British to take our destiny into our hands in October 1, 1960.
The First Republic began in earnest in 1963 after the adoption of a new constitution which placed power in the hands of the people and their elected officials. Those versed in Nigeria’s modern history have criticized politicians of that republic as being corrupt and ethnic jingoists, and, the mutineers of January 15, 1966 hid under that umbrella to commit their mutiny. For many, that was the beginning of real woes to befall the young nation called Nigeria.
Since the first set of mutineers were majorly Igbo, the counter-coup that took place barely six months after had the northerners as plotters and executors of the coup that ushered in Lt Colonel Yakubu Gowon (as he then was) as Head of State. Just like in the first coup, the plotters were not tried. No form of punishment was meted out to them. The counter-coup was different as it did not only claim 22 lives of top military echelon and politicians like the first, but was adjudged to be the bloodiest coup the nation has witnessed. Needless to say the Igbo was the major targets.
History has it that killings were not only restricted to soldiers and top politicians as in the first coup, but traders were also sorted, dragged out of hiding and killed. Tension became palpable and the southerners wanted out of the union. And the result was a civil war. At the end of the civil war which lasted for 30 months, the Federal Government declared there was no victor and no vanquished to make for easy reconciliation and reintegration. This was the first real critical juncture for a nation that had just emerged fresh from the debris of war. But no, the military government squandered the opportunity to implement Gowon’s 3Rs agenda of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of the Southeast. If this agenda was implemented, the nation would have moved away from the ills that today befalls her.
Gowon was ousted five years later by another group of military officers who felt left out of government and missed out on the wassails available for officials. Again, corruption was the song they sang to kick Gowon out. Brigadier Murtala Muhammed the new man in charge of government brought some semblance of order to the nation and how government’s businesses are conducted. But his regime was short lived as his life was cut short by Lieutenant Colonel Buka Suka Dimka’s abortive coup.
Another critical juncture for Nigeria was that brought about in June 12, 1993 when the nation moved away from its ethnic and religious trappings and voted a Muslim-Muslim ticket. That opportunity was also squandered with reason best known to the military. 24 years after June 12, the nation is presented with yet another juncture.
The nation woke up Wednesday, June 6, 2017 to the news of a 3-month quit notice issued the Igbo to leave all northern states by some northern youths. Some prominent voices in the north like the Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima have come out to denounce such statement while his counterpart in Kaduna, Mal. Nasir El-Rufai has ordered for the arrest of the youths.
The acting President on his part has had two separate meetings with leaders of thoughts from both north and southeast issuing threats to trouble makers and purveyors of dissent stating that the full wrath of the law would catch up with anyone who foments trouble. Others have joined their voices with El-Rufai to call for the arrest of the youth. Should we be talking about such at this point in our national life? In my opinion, such calls and threats are rather repressive and place the nation on a time-bomb waiting for inevitable explosion.
What leaders at all level should concern themselves with at a time like this is address root causes of these agitations and unrest which we all know to be social injustice and inequalities in every sphere and strata of our national life. Let’s stop playing the Ostrich, pretending that all is well with us. It is time to seize this opportunity presented by the voices of the people and steer our nation away from impending doom occasioned by total collapse of law and order.
Tony Ochelebe is a Development Communication Enthusiast and he writes from Abuja. He can be reached on
07065919536
