By Godwin Etakibuebu
President Muhammadu Buhari, on arrival from medical retreat in the United Kingdom last month, where he spent 102 days, thanked Nigerians fervently for praying for him, in a short national broadcast. The number of minutes he talked to us, to me, does not really matter much. Suffice to accept that the man appreciated us and he thanked us profusely from his heart.
Beyond the thanks, is the message of hope he brought to us, to wit: his resolve to continue the fight on corruption, to tackle Hausa/Fulani Herdsmen and to transfer the debate and thought of restructuring Nigeria from the public domain to two principal institutions of the federal government – National Assembly and National Council of States. He was seen to have goofed on the transfer of the Nigerian restructuring to those two bodies by most Nigerians. Of course, there are other Nigerians that applauded him, saying what he said remains the right thing to do.
The National Assembly and the National Council of States must be smiling and clinching glasses of champagne somewhere about the president’s statement. Some of them, if not all of them, at the National Assembly would have been dancing fuji and reggae music by now. The dancing troupe from the National Assembly is blessed with dynamic coaches in the persons of Senators Dino Melaye and Ademola Adeleke. Yes, these two are tested and proved dancers of international repute. But dancing steps is not the discussion for today – let us go back to Mr President’s devotion and zeal for a united Nigerian which it’s “unity is not negotiable”.
At this juncture, l might be directing the discussion to Mr President, with his permission of course. There is good reason for this re-direction of discussion. Major amongst many justifiable reasons is the thought of the president on the type of united Nigeria he wants for us. We need [not want] to know the type of untied Nigerian our president has at heart.
Is it a Nigeria that is united in equity and equality, with justice, where religion and tribe play no role in patronage of appointments? Or is it a “UNITED” Nigeria where one’s name must be Balarabe, Amina or Tambuwa before one can be considered for good and juicy appointment at the national level? Or to put it more succinctly, must one’s religion be defined within Islam’s ethos before such person receives national accolade? We need to know what Mr President’s idea about these crucial matters are, before majority of Nigerians may accept to become his dogmatic followers on this his clarion call for a united Nigeria.
Someone is most likely to question the rationale between a united Nigeria and the questions raised above. To such people, there is cogent answer. The simple answer to such thinker is to be found in the difficulty of separating UNITY from UNITED. The two words are intertwined and inseparable. Let me break it down a little please.
The President, like most of his predecessors, believes too much in this over-used and over-exaggerated language that “the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable” when everything in this world, including the creation of mankind is negotiated. Genesis chapter 1:26 quoted God; the creator of heaven and earth, as saying “let us create man in our image and likeness”, and l shall always refer to this as the “greatest negotiation”. If this is a fact of life, why would one creature of this great God say with all finality that the unity of a people; created by God, with diversified destinies, shapes and makes, cannot be negotiated?
I have said it somewhere before and l need to repeat it here again that the refusal of a few political leaders in Czechoslovakia to negotiate the unity of that country at a time of convenience did not stop it [Czechoslovakia] being consigned into the dustbin of history as the country, after terrific fearsome war of attrition, with nothing less than one million deaths, disintegrated and in its place emerged six countries. In the other hand, Yugoslavia agreed to negotiate its unity and the terms of staying in peace. Every other thing about these two countries is now history we can learn from for our own good. Let us move forward still.
At this point, l have a story to tell about the type of united Nigeria that all Nigerians would want to invest in. Mohammed Balarabe Haladu, then Brigadier-General [promoted to Lieutenant-General before he died as Minister of Industry] was transferred from military duties to resume work at the Nigerian Ports Authority [NPA] as Executive Chairman. His predecessor at the NPA was Engineer MK Ibrahim from Kaduna State; a man appointed to that position by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, through the influence of the late Oil Technocrat – Engineer Rilwanu Lukeman [1938-2014], himself being Major-General Buhari’s Minister of Mines, Power and Steel, so appointed in 1984.
General Haladu had been my friend before he was promoted a Major in the Nigerian Army and by the time he was posted to the Nigerian Ports Authority, he found my presence in the maritime industry very useful. He called me one day to tell me about his intention to replace the Public Relations Officer of the Authority [Sam Opesanwo] with one Alhaji Abdulkareem from Kaduna State [Radio Kaduna] and his reason of wanting to do this has nothing to do with ineffectiveness of the incumbent PRO but simple to move more Mallams to the “waterfront”, so to say.
As a very good friend l was not happy with him and l asked him two questions. One, do you want all Nigerians to change their names to Abdulkareem before they get what they want from Nigeria? Two, Bala [l called him Bala], if the waters were to be in the north, do you think that a Southern Nigerian would have risen to become a Principal officer in the Nigerian Ports Authority forever? Mr President, decode these to enable you move Nigeria forward.
Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote from Lagos.