The story of Nigeria and her freedom from the British rule
cannot be told without mentioning some prominent actors who by omission or
commission were at the forefront of the struggle. Usually the trio of Nnamdi Azikiwe
, (an easterner), Obafemi Awolowo (a westerner), and Tafawa Balewa (a northerner),
usually overshadow the others, who also were part of the struggle and later the
government of the first republic.
These three
prominent individuals, representing by either omission or commission the three
major tribes as popularly viewed, and who were young at the time were believed
to spearheaded the fight for freedom. But what would surprise you is that
there’s no one agreeable story, documented as to who exactly amongst them
started the agitation, and who amongst them was the first to stand up against
the colonial masters and demand that they let Nigeria go. This is in contrast to our neighboring
Anglo-phone brother, Ghana, whom today we know have and regard Kwame Nkrumah as the arrow head of an independent
Ghana.
Unlike Ghana, Nigeria independent struggle and success
story is determined by who is telling the story. If an easterner tells you the
story, most likely Zik will be the hero of the independent struggle and success.
If a southerner tells you the story, Awolowo would of course be the hero, and
if you happens to hear from a northerner, your guess is as good as mine, Tafawa
Balewa would have been the savior of Nigeria from the British colonization. So relying on a Nigerian, even those who are
considered minority to get a good account of our independent struggle and success
story would only confuse you the more. So now, how do we get the true
story?
In a football tournament, like the Atlanta 96 Olympic Games,
when a team wins, every player who made the tournament team automatically
becomes a hero. While some are more popular than the others, especially those
who featured more, when the story is told years down the lane, the entire team
is regarded as the glorious team, whether or not you played in one game, all
the games or none at all. But to win a game, a goal must be scored, and a goal
is scored only by one player and one player at a time. So whilst the entire
contingent or team shares in the glory, one player would naturally and always
be singled out whenever the need arises as the player who made the difference,
like Ghana has Kwame Nkrumah as the father
of their independence, the man who amongst the team or the group who fought and
got their independence was considered the shining light that made the
difference. So how come, of all the
three presented to us by historical account of our independence struggle and
success, none was considered good enough or qualified enough by an act of
bravery or intelligent, both of which is a function of time and chance to be
called the special one, like Kwame Nkrumah.
Does it mean that the trio met, planned and agreed that we
are going to demand for our freedom? The trios met with the representatives of
the British Empire and spoke at the same time, and subsequently were always in
synch with one another until the British rulers caved in, and decided to let go
of their colony. Is it possible that these men were bonded by the quest for
freedom that they all decided at the same time that this Pharaoh must let our
people go?
Reason why it’s important to establish like I mentioned
earlier about the need for a doctor to establish a patient’s medical history is
because, as concerned citizens and stakeholders of this sick entity called
Nigeria, we must have an understanding of our past to effectively deal with our
present and create our desired tomorrow. Like the case of a young football
player from Nigeria in the early eighties, who was signed by a Belgium club
side after a brilliant performance in an under 17 world cup, and placed under a
nutritional diet to aid his growth, with the mind that he was the age his
international passport said he is, only to realize that the diet meant for
growth was instead creating more pound in weight on the player than height and
built. And when they did a thorough research, only to find out that the said
player’s age was almost twice what the international passport said. What a tragedy you would say, but that is the
story of so many Nigerians in different walks of life, especially in the
government owned civil service and health matters. Nigerians are known to more
often than not give false information when they apply for job vacancies or go
to the hospital, in other to either qualify for the job age requirement or avoid
a perceived stigma of a particular disease. The outcome is a redundant and
ineffective public service and unhealthy population.
So to avoid the above described scenario, we must first
identify who amongst this trio was actually the real champion of our independent
struggle and success. Some would say, of what benefit? While others would say
it doesn't matter and argue that it would only add to an already confused
historical documentation of how we got our independence. These school of thoughts or arguments will only
be focusing on the immediate, while forgetting the past. Any medical
doctor who knows his onions would prior to prescribing a curative medicine for a sick patient, would usually begin with a list of test to be
conducted, just to determine the right treatment and method.
A thorough analysis of our independent struggle and
success would reveal amongst others the root cause of the discrepancy of our independent history, and help us to make a concise judgment, if we will find
the will power, of what needs to be done to our ailing ideology of a
nationalist state.
This thorough analysis if and when done, would have
something like this; a people divided by mutual distrust as against united by
mutual trust, a nation of unpatriotic and disloyal people as against a nation
of patriotic and loyal people, a country divided by ethnic and religious
difference as against a country united by the beauty of their ethnic and
religious differences, a nation ruined by selfish and greedy leaders as against
a nation led by selfless and servant leadership, last but not the least, a
nation of people who are clothed with ignorance and timidity in the inside but
displays an outward appearance of insight and potency.
Nigeria has been sick from the days of the Azikiwe’s, the
Awolowo’s, and the Tafawa Balewa’s, one of whom by shear ignorance or inability
to resist the temptation of becoming a local champion denied us the golden
opportunity of nationalist state foundation laid by trust, unity and love for
the indivisible entity and not for the divisible identities that we are left
with today.
One of these trios was the pioneer and champion of the
independent struggle and success, with the rest, beyond the two others as
comrades. But one or two of these trios, not wanting to lose the opportunity of
a local hero, sowed a seed of discord, to discredit and possibly create an
enemy of a people, as against a hero of the people in other to be hailed by his
own ethnic group and people. Of course in the midst of confusion as was the
post independent political era, how would a Yoruba man believe that Azikiwe got
the independent for Nigeria, or the Igbo’s believe that Awolowo did, and
certainly not the Hausa’s agreeing that either Awolowo or Zik was the champion
of the independent struggle and success, having been told differently by those
whom by act of providence they view as their shining light and own hero.
This injustice of hiding the true picture died with these
men, and those beside them and could not be put straight by those that
followed, either because they don’t know, or they know but believed that if
they tell us the truth, they would lose their relevance and hence their hold on
us, as the only tool they implore to win election, wields authority and commend
influence is by the classic Nigerian system of divide and
rule. Our ethnic, religious and cultural differences have been implored by
those we trust to rule us, as tools of division rather than unity for the
greater good of their stomach against the greater good of the people.
Till we are told, that is if there’s any amongst those
that knows who is still around today, who the champion of our independence
struggle and success is, and possibly why he was denied or painted a traitor to
a particular region or regions, the illness of which we are diagnosed of
suffering as a nation of people would not albeit, hence our prolong state of
ill health.
Knowing this may never happen, for the same reasons
mentioned above, then the only alternative we have to survive as a nation and
possibly experience what it feels and means to be a true nation would be to
undergo what in medical science they call regeneration, which is restructuring
in political science. The restructuring of the Nigerian system, of which will
include the brand identity, the government structure, the ideology of a nation,
as would be agreed and understood by all, is the only hope of surviving we
have. Yet again, some may argue against this thoughts been the remedy, while
some would say, we can find a way in our current structure as a nation to
overcome our sick state and launch into the world of discovering in the mix who
we truly are and someday hopefully make a brake. Then for these school of thoughts, I will
simply remind them of a chines adage that says “ if you are going on a journey
and somewhere along the journey, you realized that the route you took will
never get you to your supposed
destination, that you must retrace your step, and take the right turn or you
will never arrive at your supposed destination”.
If we do not come together again, as was done in the post
independent era and discuss and agree on the right political structure to adopt
as our unique differences requires, the nation called Nigeria may never survive
the ill health of which she’s been diagnosed of, and of course that would
ultimately mean death and an irrevocably end to what was once a dream.
To those who are against restructuring, I say; your fears
are all a byproducts of seed sowed by those who are enemies of the state, and
so does not in actuality exists. For those who would agree with me, it’s not
enough that you agreed with me; you must promote and stand for this idea of
restructuring until it’s done or nothing. Of course I would be too naïve to
believe those are the only two camps, for I know my people, some would rather
sit on the fence and wait for the restructuring that would bring about the real
change to happen; I say to you, it may never happen unless you join hand and play
your part in advocating for the only hope of survival we have or you would not
also know what exactly it means, when for instance an American or Chines would
say proudly ‘I am an American or , I am a Chines ‘ , remember a country is not
the hill or the mountains or the rivers that we see, a country is an ideology,
and only those who believe in the ideology of a country can truly be said to be
from that country, as a Nigerian, what would you say is the ideology of your
nation state?
Till you answer that question, please don’t argue with me,
that Nigeria is sick, and has been sick since independent.
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