THE REAL LINES THAT DIVIDE US

By Tweezy It’s no longer the elephant in the room, we all know it. Some of us might be scared to talk about it or even rubbish it as preposterous, but deep down inside us we know. We also know that if we don’t do something about it soon we’ll be the ones to suffer for it. I am talking about the division of our dear country, Nigeria. It’s unfortunate that we’ve come to this point, 53 years ago no one would have thought it’d be like this. Now we are faced with this threat, one which is mostly believed to be caused by thick ethnic and religious lines that have been part of our political history since independence. But is our belief founded? In most nations and amongst peoples of various backgrounds in those nations, various political groups are usually formed. Most of these groups usually stem from a common ideal, a unifying bond or a strong belief. The said groups may not really agree with each other on many things and the cause of difference in opinion is usually very clear for all to see. Ours isn’t so different too, only that it is shrouded by another motivation. Political differences usually occur as a result of perceived marginalization of one group or disaffection from another group when it observes that its interests are not regarded amongst many other reasons. Bottom line is that they try to keep the interests of their various peoples at the forefront before anything else. Here in Nigeria the interests being fought for are very different. Tribal issues have bedeviled us for over 5 decades, yet we are still together. Religious differences-riots even-have plagued us for many years, yet we’re still a unified entity. All this after over 50years? How come? If we are so tribal or religious, why are we still coexisting? Why hasn’t the north formed an Islamic republic and the south on its own practicing theocracy? What’s holding us back? The answer is simple: religion or tribe isn’t our problem. Greed is. We are divided not by ethnic concerns or any fervent zeal to worship our different gods, but by a political ideology characterized by greed. It is this same ideology our colonial masters put first as its main objective when they colonized and amalgamated us. No one was respected, nobody’s future was considered, no plans were made to safeguard our collective interests irrespective of our backgrounds. Nigeria was a business deal and profit making was the true goal. Let me not digress, its 2013 and our colonial masters are long gone. We are independent-at least officially-and so our future is in our hands now. But we are not free, we are still in chains. The only difference now is that out task masters and overlords are Nigerians like you and me. It used to be just the leadership -which ironically has come from every part of the country-but even now we the people have become part of the problem. When I say leadership, I’m not referring to the executive arm of government alone. I mean leadership at every level of government across the country. l am talking about the local government chairmen, the permanent secretaries, the directors, the councilors, the lawmakers, the president and his deputy, his ministers, the chairmen of various boards he has set up and so on. Most of these people, along with the vast majority of our populace have this political ideology. This is the real threat to our existence. The north isn’t after power for its people’s sake, neither is the south. If they were their people won’t be living in squalor and abject poverty, they won’t constitute the immense number of graduates who are looking for jobs but can’t find any. They won’t be among those who have the highest of maternal mortality cases worldwide; they won’t be among the people with the highest percentage of school dropouts in the world. No they won’t, by no means. As divided as Nigerians claim to be ethnically, it is the same Nigerians who agree on increasing salaries for lawmakers. It is the same Nigerians who were involved in the fuel subsidy scam, the same Nigerians who meet and throw lavish parties abroad. All tribes are usually present there; there is no marginalization of any kind. No religion is ostracized, whether you’re a roman catholic or an Islamic scholar. All you have to do is to ‘belong’. All you need to possess is greed and you’re qualified. You can run for any office in this country of lobby for any plum job in government, the only qualification you need is a degree in back scratching, shikena! It was Voltaire who once said that ‘when it comes to money, all men are of the same religion’. I couldn’t agree more. Most of us are just hypocrites, it’s that simple. Christians want a Christian to be at the helm of affairs of any post, Muslims want the same too. The Yoruba, the Efik, the Hausa, the Ibos, and every other ethnic group or language in the country all wants ‘their sons’ in power. These ‘sons’ of course aren’t anointed by their people because they are the ones that can do the job, they are chosen because they will ‘’share money for us when they get there’’ or ‘’they will put more of our sons in power’’. That’s just the way it is, period. The south-south today is in charge of the federal government, but like all others before them they have towed the same line of greed and avarice. Not a single thing has changed; in fact things have deteriorated further. The people (including those from the south-south) are still suffering. Now the north wants it back, but we all know they don’t care about their people either. If they did they would have made life better for their people when they had the chance. All are corrupt, none is exempt. Not a single tribe or ethnic group or anyone from any religious extraction is innocent, none. We are divided, there’s no doubt about that, we’ve been divided for over 50years, but the real lines that divided us wasn’t tribe or religion. It was greed, selfishness and corruption. It started with the British, was passed down to us and unfortunately we have nurtured it even better than our masters. Today there are too many greedy people in government and in the populace. No one wants to serve and perform their duty, not even for their own tribe or religion. Everyone is fighting for his or her own pocket. Therein lies the secret behind all the agitation and struggle for power that you see in Nigeria every day. No other motivation to serve or work exists in this country other than the desire to satisfy oneself alone. How sad. We need a detribalized populace and leadership, one that eschews corruption and lethargy, one that respects other people irrespective of the god they worship, one that seeks the good of everyone irrespective of where they come from, one that isn’t selective in criticism or justice, one that is ready to lavish praise on those who deserve it whether they come from their hometown or not. Education and a sound orientation about what our core values should be as a people will play a huge part in this change that we need. It will take a while, but it will be worth it. After all these years of struggle, the least we can do for our children and generations unborn is to secure the future. That future cannot be secured by greed, it can’t be secured by corruption, it can’t be secured by dishonesty. The only way we can stop this threat is to find a lasting solution to our mentality as a people. If we were to divide, it won’t be the end of our woes. That same ideology will follow everyone to his own new country and the results would be much more terrible. Let’s blur this evil line and create a new nation with people of different tribes, tongues and religion who believe in nothing else but the potential greatness of this country, let’s start now. Our time is running out.