Before 1914 there was no country called Nigeria, all that existed were kingdoms, clans, caliphate, empires etc. People of similar languages, cultures, traditions etc were living together as one. This equation was altered when the Europeans came to Africa, precisely Nigeria. The British in their selfish wisdom forcefully and cunningly brought all the different tribes with diverse cultures together. Before Nigeria's independence in 1960 different ethnic groups, regions at different time had agitated to be on their own but never succeeded. When 1960 finally came every Nigerian at that time basked in the euphoria of the country being an Utopian society. After independence, the country went from one problem to another -political, economical, corruption, each person/ethnic group was suspicious of one another hence the scramble for power at the centre at all cost. From 1960 to date there has been numerous coups, successful and abortive. countless number of innocent Nigerians have lost their lives for what they know nothing about. From 1960 till date , some of the best brains have been lost, time, energy, money have all gone down the drain.
Why can’t we just live together as one, is it because of our ethnic background and diverse culture , what is the issue ?. Even the western world -US, Russia, France, China, India, Brazil are made up of people of different cultures, ethnic group, languages, tradition etc. yet they are living as one indivisible country and entity. Maybe, there is something wrong with the black-man. This problem, is it just a black-man problem ?, check the history of the black nation in the world. You must find corruption, ethnic strife, political instability and other form of civil disobedience. Even the black nations that are not in Africa, have not fared better. Haiti, Jamaica etc. This has made some countries to deny the black indigenous population any chance in governance e.g. Brazil, Columbia etc.
After independence in 1960 there was mutual suspicions amongst the regional leaders and their parties which lead to the collapse of the first republic. This event was also the forerunner to the series of coups and and the eventual civil war that followed.
Another election year is just months away, the politicians have started over heating the polity with all manner of unwarranted campaign of calumny coupled with insecurity in the North east that is now spreading to the North central and the government inability to deal with it.
Some couple of years back the Western world [US] has predicted that Nigeria will cease to exist in or after 2015. Recently the Nigerian government requested to buy arms from US to fight insurgency in the North East but the request was turn down. Why was this request turned down?. The answer will be seen as we make progress. The US has a hand if not some hands in almost all the conflicts that are presently going on globally-the middle east, the far East, North Africa etc. The US does not middle or create conflict when it has nothing to gain. All those region mentioned above but Afghanistan
have Hydrocarbon as the main stay of their economy and are members of OPEC. This hydrocarbon is the source of power for the US industries and for a long time the US has always taken exception to the price of crude from OPEC countries hence has advocated for price reduction.
The Niger Delta crises presented an opportunity to the US, but the leadership then was wiser and managed this crises. The Bokoharam crises is another opportunity for the US to destabilise and feast on Nigeria as long as possible with the way she is presently feasting on some of the hydrocarbon rich and crises infested Arab countries and some North African countries that are in crises too. With the way things are going-politicians heating up the polity [attack of calumny ] insurgency, inflation, unemployment etc. this is a pointer to crack in all the structures in Nigeria. The US which has usurp the role of “world police” is tirelessly working tooth and nail to feather her nest selfishness and greed at the detriment of Nigeria. The US has military structure off the coast of Atlantic ocean [AFRICOM]. In several meetings, briefings, and statements, high-level officials have said that AFRICOM has four main goals: (1) to counter terrorism on African soil as part of the Global War on Terror, (2) to protect oil resources, recognising that the US currently purchases approximately 24 percent of its oil from Africa, and (3) to counter China’s growing economic investment on the continent, (4) to bring stability to Africa, but only as it serves US interests. It is our belief that AFRICOM will actually destabilise the continent in the long-run and will put our partners in Africa at risk. For all the talk of it being a new, innovative engagement, AFRICOM may simply serve to protect unpopular regimes that are friendly to US interests while Africa slips further into poverty, as was the case during the Cold War.
Creating security and stability in Africa is not something that can be accomplished by the U.S. military- by any military- regardless of specialised training and cooperation with experts and good intentions. If the US government truly wants to promote peace, stability, and human development in Africa, it should not do so by a military command but by offering a civilian-driven just security approach. Instead of the US government sending medical personnels and equipment to fight Ebola in Liberia, it chooses to send about hundreds of military personnels to Liberia to fight what?. West Africa is fighting war against Ebola and not military conflict and what West Africa needs is medical personnels and equipments. All these military buildup is in preparation for the breakup of Nigeria according to their prediction so that they can feast on the largess of defunct Nigeria.
When the US came to Nigeria after the Chibok’s school girl abduction everybody was happy with the hope that the “kidnapped girls” would soon be released with the western troops build up, but alas this buildup to me only served to to compromise our security system to a large extent towards the predicted breakup of the country.
At this point, lets pulse and answer the following pertinent questions; are we prepared for a breakup, what good will it serve us if we break up, into how many places will this break up occur, can each of the breakup regions survive on their own, what happens after the breakup etc?????????.
The US to me is deceiving everybody, more especially Nigerians. Its high time we all woke up from our slumber and put aside sentiment, religion(s), ethnicity/ tribalism, greed and other differences to tackle this impending disaster headlong because of the too numerous advantages and benefits in being together as one Nigeria irrespective of our different political party/association.
By Mr Rivers
A conserved and concerned Nigeria
via nigerianeye
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