RECALL: The End of The End of ‘British’*-Nigeria IV

In The Evening of British-Nigeria…

This is the evening time of British-Nigeria, the colonial country coupled together fraudulently by the British Colonial rulers. This British-Nigeria must first die if a New Nigeria is ever going to be born to replace this monstrosity of a country as a normal, free, sovereign, progressive and caring welfare State unencumbered by hidden local or foreign powers.

The cankerworm, the moth, the cancer and the million other ailments that this British-Nigeria is carrying in its short life have eaten too deep into its political, social, economic and spiritual essence to give it any hope of ever recovering or surviving from her travails.

Sincere and honest political doctors who are not motivated by the size of the fat cash/cheque that a prolonged sickness of the dying country might bring into their bank accounts are considering euthanasia. They are of the opinion that euthanasia (humane and painless ending of life of a sick and suffering person) will ease the suffering of this poor country.  And particularly, her death will be a relief to the millions of indigenous dependents who have been traumatised psychologically since Nigeria was created.

The long awaited relief from a bondage of forced and crooked political unity will be a welcome answer to the prayers of the indigenous and innocent people. The people without their consent have been physically, emotionally, economically and socially paralysed under this forced association. The prolonged care and attention they have optimistically devoted to this sick country during the past 57years have fatally ruined them.

The Abiola’s episode of June 12 1993 that we described earlier is significant only in the sense that it opened up vividly the festering wound of the political cancer that the Nigeria’s ruling class have tried so much to hide under a borrowed, flamboyant but ill-fitting political garment. 

Obafemi Awolowo, in particular, was one of the few sincere Nigerians who was aware of the presence of the malignant cancer. He tried from 1947 onwards until his death in 1987 to bring to the awareness of all like-minded Nigerians the serious structural and political imbalances that are the cause of all the socioeconomic deformities rampaging and ruining the body polity of Nigeria but to no avail.

It is important to say a few words on the venerable sage, Late Obafemi Awolowo, in order to buttress the opinion we made earlier that several capable Nigerians who could have made a difference to the political trajectory of Nigeria were denied opportunities to handle the affairs of British-Nigeria after the departure of the colonial administrators.

It is customary in popular discourse and in some parts of Nigeria to put the blame for the direction Nigeria has taken since the Nigeria’s Civil War on Awolowo. In my humble opinion, it seemed to me that this lazy assessment of the colossal Awolowo is very unfair.

Awolowo was a man who, throughout his political life, worked from a single script that was fundamentally rooted in justice for all. The important weakness that could be easily identified with Awolowo was his penchant for standing firmly on a course of action as soon as he saw the sense and the need for the issue under consideration. He was a man who loved the people of Nigeria and everything about Nigeria with great passion.

Awolowo was highly learned because he worked hard at knowing. He was a genuine seeker of truth. He sought the truth of Nigeria and as soon as he found it he could not keep the revelation to himself without sharing his discoveries. His many publications bear witness to his unique love of scholarship and a genuine affection for the people of Nigeria irrespective of ethnic background or geographical location.

This writer was never a political or social activist but in the past I enjoyed sharing and debating opinions like most Nigerian armchair ‘philosophers’. Even though like many of my compatriots, I lacked any theoretical or philosophical foundation, due to our kind of sub-standard educational curriculum, to underpin an intellectual position. But all the same, like most bombastic Nigerians, I seem to understand right and wrong at a plain simple common sense level.

Like many Nigerians who are still not totally buried under the yoke of Nigeria’s intractable problems, I finally saw the need to seek factual knowledge and concrete understanding about Nigeria and her indigenous people. Rather than continue to dine on a diet of dry non-nutritious fables and popular but non-factual opinions about the true facts of the wherefore and the wherewithal of Nigeria’s political logjam, I devoted ample time to seek and to search for true answers to many questions that were bogging my mind.

In the process I came across publications devoted to Africa and to Nigeria in particular and my eyes were opened to some fundamental truth about my race, my country and her people.

Awolowo’s books on Path to Nigerian Freedom and Thoughts on Nigerian Constitution, which were quoted in this essay, among many other publications were very revealing. These books brought in to focus a vivid enlightenment and a fruitful objective variant to some of the issues on which I had been hitherto confused for so long. 

Late Obafemi Awolowo was an exceptional thinker, a philosopher and a pragmatic ideologue that graced the firmament of Nigeria.

Unfortunately, his great gifts as a thinker, a visionary and a pragmatic political leader and administrator were never allowed to be placed in the service of the people of Nigeria at the critical stage to lay the right foundation for a brand new Nation State.

Awolowo was a man with a beautiful mind, a keen sense for justice and a dogged fighter willing to put his life on the line to redress injustice wherever and whenever it raises its ugly head. He based his whole political treatise of Nigeria on building a case for the minority Ethnic Groups of Nigeria.

This selfless concern for the Minority Groups, was the driving force that forbade him to give an unconditional support to the proposal from the Eastern Region to dismember the Republic of Biafra in 1967 from Nigeria.

Like every man of conscience at the time, we were all appalled by the macabre events perpetrated by those involved in the Coup d’état of January and the reprisal Coup of June 1966. The worst of all those events was the hate-filled pogrom in the Northern Region that led to the civil war from 1967-1970 in the country. Even after 50years, these dastardly and murderous acts are still too gruesome and too revolting to be repeated in detail in this essay.

Yet, Awolowo who is a born optimist could not accept the fact that the political experiment of building a strong united nation out of the many diverse smaller nations contained within Nigeria was impossible. It was the exceptional faith he had in the redeeming nature of mankind that compelled him to hold on to hope, until the time of his death in 1987, that Nigeria can still be uplifted into a virile, progressive Nation State in Africa.

Up to the time of the last election that he contested in 1983, he fervently believed he had some answers to the insurmountable political problems plaguing Nigeria. However, fate and the actions of covert enemies of the people of Nigeria, who were more concerned about their own selfish interest, even though masked as national interest, thwarted the opportunity this noble man, a natural gift of God to Nigeria at that time in history, deserve to serve his people.

If there are any people in Nigeria who were terribly short-changed by the failure of Awolowo to run the affairs of the country, it was the people of the Western Region who he left adrift, though unintentionally, after a glorious short service from 1952-1959, to pursue national politics. The sweet nostalgia of that short memorable stewardship still lingers today.

The people of the Western Region of Nigeria have never stopped to imagine what it could have been for them, if only Awolowo had focused all his physical energy and brain power to that part of the country longer than he did.  

The abundant wealth of the contributions he made to uplift the people of this region by eradicating ignorance and illiteracy in a record time, among many other wonderful innovations in governance, are still remarkable stories that gladdens the heart.  

Even today, the story of Obafemi Awolowo, the first Premier of Western Nigeria, when told by a good historian, is still very powerful to uplift the spirit of all those that studied Awolowo and his works. He is a rare example of what an awakened mind can accomplish in a life time. Even in spite of all the man-made obstacles of political chicanery, diabolical machination and legal obstructions placed in the path of this noble soul.

Be that as it were, the British-Nigeria has been held together, so far, by the concern of genuine patriots who were motivated by the need to protect the rights of Ethnic Minorities within its fold. These patriots knew that the Ethnic Majority groups were prepared to swallow up the Biroms, the Efiks, the Gwaris, the Idomas, the Ijaws, the Katafs, the Ogonis, the Urhobos, etc. if they had the chance.

The Minority Ethnic groups are physically, culturally and psychologically surrounded, almost to the point of total assimilation, by the politically mighty but minority Fulani Caliphate in the North. And similarly threatened by the indomitable expansionist interest of the Igbo in the East.

The protection of the interest of the Minority groups was the singular factor that prevented Awolowo from changing his life-long position on a federated Nigeria where every Ethnic Nation has the right to political self-determination and has full control over the natural resources within their geographical area.

We must never forget that Awolowo campaigned tirelessly as Vice-Chairman of the Federal Executive Council in the military administration of Yakubu Gowon to get the boundaries of Nigeria redrawn in order to assure political self-determination to all identifiable nations or Minority Groups in the country. This is an important legacy from Awolowo to Nigerians, for which we shall all be grateful as the evening time of British-Nigeria comes to a long-awaited final end.

From the above opinion, based on my understanding of the history of Nigeria, this writer will seriously object to being called either an idealist or a pessimist but a reasoned realist. I have merely refused to hold on to any sentimental or unfounded slogan of moving this country forward, which is the common salvo of all lazy advisers on Nigeria’s problem. It is a delusional expectation, which is totally far away from objective reality. It is too obvious to all those that care to look that if the status quo of the present political arrangement and structure of the country remain fundamentally unchanged, the present deceptive and covert political machinery of British-Nigeria will be bursted sooner than later.

Abiola’s sad election story of 1983 would have been a saving grace if the electioneering process had been allowed to run its natural course. It could have patched the country together for another length of time. Hopefully, along the experiential highway of politics we would have been able to learn a lesson or two about the futility of our present ways of national corruption. And we would have been able to gain valuable knowledge that could have helped us put a stop to our collective national foolishness and political tomfoolery.

But this was not to be. Because Ibrahim Babangida and his coterie of hidden masters and friends who were not courageous enough to show their faces in broad daylight decided that Nigeria could go on as it had done for the past 33years, at that time, without an almighty implosion eventually. It is my humble opinion to state that the present so-called Nigerians still have a little ray of hope to defuse the explosive bomb that is almost ready to go at any time. We must not wait until the damaging consequences of 103years of political deception and exploitation that is capable of violently breaking Nigeria in to smithereens happen. We have the chance to pre-empt this foreboding political implosion that is furiously coming our way even at this late hour.

Abiola’s death (cold-blooded murder in detention) was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It was a cervical spinal damage and the doctors have declared the poor camel can only be patched up but it can never walk again. If the camel is medically managed to survive its ordeal, it will remain a cripple for life and would require a 24/7 care. The question is, is that what the masses of Nigeria want for their country: to be in a vegetative state that can never serve the purpose for which it was designed? This is the hour of decision. There is no longer any time left to play politics. It is the professional view of the political doctors that if we prolong the demise of this chimera of a country much longer she will only cause more pain and heartache to all her citizens.

Alas, who will administer the fatal dose of the prescribed drug to this crippled, bedridden chimera of a country which has become too weak to perform any beneficial function to her citizens. As a result of her weak condition, it is continuously falling in and out of consciousness. The political doctors have advised us to simply turn off the oxygen mask (alias the black gold) and that the country shall pass away quietly without any whimper in her comatose state. This is the riddle of Nigeria’s political situation today.

Fellow Compatriots, as a result of our faithlessness in a country that has so much to offer and so many promises to give for our collective well being, we have from the time of its fraudulent conception colluded with the foreign and local controllers to pillage, exploit, rob and steal her resources without any plan to replenish them for posterity.

We have behaved as if it was the end of a free bazaar where every participant had to grab as much as he can carry for the bazaar would never come to town again. We have behaved as if each ethnic group has another country separately somewhere and so our piratical and raping activities were dictated by our primary love for this other country, which we meant to develop at the expense of Nigeria.

Maybe we have been right all along. Instinctively, maybe we knew, or at least the street-wise smart ones among us knew, that the British-Nigeria as put together by the mischief-making Deep State of Britain could never work. This intuitive awareness that this British-Nigeria is not a politically workable entity might explain the careless abandon with which so-called Nigerians have so far addressed the serious problems of building a Nation State from the scratch.

Nigerians seem to have singly and collectively, both in thoughts and in deeds, become hopelessly dependent like a parasite that feeds gluttonously, without a scintilla of loving care, on the natural resources of one single ethnic minority. We designed a political structure and economic policies that are fatally flawed in the sense that they are incapable of growth. A parasite can only go as far its host can carry and sustain it. Even when a parasite takes over its host completely it must still take care to ensure that the life source of its host is not hampered or endangered.

Every parasite knows instinctively that the death of the host means its own death as well. As parasites, Nigerian constituent parts have become hopelessly useless and congenitally indolent to the extent that all the natural features that we had originally have been shed off or have atrophied for lack of use. We were so sure of our total parasitic dependency that we began to create mini-parasites of ourselves believing that our host will carry the extra burden without given any sympathetic consideration for her long-suffering. We even imprisoned our host, the sole provider of our beneficence, to make sure it does not depart from us. We stifled life out of all the promising children of our host hoping that by so doing we shall take over their God-given inheritance.

This is the riddle facing all the ethnic nations of Nigeria as we march with trepidation into the future; as a new phase of open clamour for change is ringing all across the land; and as an open outrage of anger and outburst of years of pent-up frustration from our teeming, neglected and forsaken population is simmering to the point of boiling over.

It is a shame that a country in a natural state of bloom and blessed with the effervescence of promising human talents in all the spheres of life as well as natural resources both on land and in land is now in great travail. From the North to the south of Nigeria and from the East to the west of this great landmass, there are cries of agony and of wailing noises induced by untold suffering and inhuman hardship. This is as a result of the simple fact that, as a multiethnic country of diverse cultures, the so-called political leaders were totally lacking in wisdom necessary to harness these great gifts together for the good of all.

Obviously, the missing link in our human make-up and in our political constituency is LOVE. It is unfortunate that we could not understand that without love no relationship is ever possible. The holy Bible said, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for that is the Law and the Prophets”.(16) There is no reason why Nigeria should not have been great or be on the path to greatness if the different nations within its enclosure understand this simple wisdom. We have spent all this time, goaded by The Powers That Be, to plot evil for each other, to deceive each other while playing the wise and intelligent when we have been stupid and foolish. We have destroyed the work of honest patriots among us while pretending to be building or assisting to build a country.

However, this is the evening time and the alarm bell has sounded and the cry has gone forth, “To your Tents O! Nigerians”. This is not a time for preachment. It is too late now. Let the ruling powers try to hold back the next stage of the ominous developing dark clouds that we can see all around us and they will find that it is no longer possible as it used to be under the divide-and-rule political strategy. The answer to a quick and final dissolution of this horrible ignominy of a country in the comity of nations is very obvious but it is not for me to spell it out or to go into detail. This writer will just appeal to each so-called Nigerian at this late stage and hour to STOP and THINK for a moment and to find answers to the following probing questions:

Is it still in the interest of those of us who have been psychologically traumatised and are just marginally alive today or of those of our youth who were born and bred in corruption with no other high ethical value to guide them, to continue with this inglorious experiment?

Is it still possible to grow and nurture a true faith in each other and in other ethnic groups outside of our own? Can we revive or rebuild our neglected physical abilities and natural capabilities? Is it possible in our communal/ethnic relationships to learn the process of threading on the path of reason and no longer on clannish sentiments born of ignorance?

Is it too late to learn to trust each other again? Can we rebuild mutual trust and respect amongst the people of our different nations? Is it still possible to undo the evil of these past years that we inflicted on one another?

Are we ready and are we prepared to face a Truth Commission openly and solitarily in order to lay bare our fears and to expose where they came from for necessary psychological healing? Are we willing to confess that indeed we have, individually and collectively in ignorance, done wrong to ourselves and to each other?

Do we now recognise the enemy within the fold and the enemy outside the fold? Are we courageous enough to stand up to the enemies and to call off their bluff, now that we are wiser?

Do we still have the fire of truth in our bellies to feel morally outrage at the cause and the cost of our covert economic enslavement and political imprisonment? Even at this late hour, do we still have the political will to turn this forbidden and ominous tragic tale around?

The answers to the above questions lie with each one of us. But we must all remember that we are in the eleventh hour of the Mystery British-Nigeria and that any more delay to act in the direction of a purposeful individual and group repentance under the spirit of truth might be too late. We must be ready and willing to stretch out a hand of loving fellowship to our ethnic neighbours and even to our age long traducers that never wished us well.  The ominous consequences of our past misdeeds, hanging above us like the Sword of Damocles, may be too late to forestall. Hence, the imminent national annihilation of a country built on fraud and deception may happen soon than expected if we delay a moment longer to take positive steps to repent and redress all the evil deeds of the past.

However, there may still be a little ray of hope, if only we can act now and more decisively on the side of common sense. On my part, my fervent prayer to the people of British-Nigeria is, it shall be well with us. But we need to listen to the quiet whisper of the Spirit of Truth as it speaks into our hearts. The national change and the reorientation of national values we hope for and that we love to see in our life time start with each of us. Please, remember each of us is the change we desire.

October 7, 2017

 

Postscript 

* ‘British’ as used in this essay is a subtle way to differentiate between the open government of Britain and the cloak and dagger Deep State in the dark. The Deep State has often been associated with the International Bankers and it is a profoundly secret power in our world that has succeeded through deception, malevolent and ruthless practices to subjugate and to put all governmental institutions in the world under its demonic and secretive control. In other words, all public officials – both politicians and civil servants – unbeknown to most of them are not really serving the government and the citizens of their nations but the secret controllers of the world alias International Bankers.

It was the International Bankers that bankrolled and sponsored all the adventurers and explorers cum exploiters that paved the way for the building of the behemoth British Empire. The much quoted Frederick Lugard in this essay was a mercenary soldier in the employ of companies owned by International Bankers. Hence, the International Bankers are the true owners of ‘British-Nigeria’ and it is their inimical policy that the alleged Federal Government of Nigeria has followed and implemented since 1914.

Unfortunately, the British government which is in the same hegemonic quagmire like Nigeria as well as every other country in the world, has been forced by circumstances beyond her control, to carry the can and the blame for the several mind-boggling atrocities perpetrated by the International Bankers all over the world.

Since the 2nd World War and into the 21st century, USA has currently taken over the status of the scapegoat nation as it is the one now carrying the blame for the havoc of economic espionage, disruption of legitimate countries and cruel wars being wrecked all over the world on behalf of the International Bankers just as Britain did in the 19th and 20th centuries.

NOTES

1. P. J. Proudhon, What is Property: An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government.
2. John E. Flint ‘Nigeria: The Colonial Experience from 1880-1914’ in Colonialism in Africa, 1870 – 1960. Volume 1 The History and Politics of Colonialism 1870 – 1914 . Edited by L.H. Gann and Peter Duignan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1969. Pp. 220 – 260.
3. ibid.
4.  ibid.
5. ibid. (P. J. Proudhon)
6. ibid. (John E. Flint)
7. ibid.
8. ibid.
9. Raymond Leslie Buell, ‘Section VII: Nigeria’ in The Native Problem in Africa. Vol. 1. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1928. Pp.717-718.
10. Andrew E. Barnes, ‘Some Fire Behind the Smoke: The Fraser Report and its Aftermath in Colonial Northern Nigeria ’ in Canadian Journal of African Studies, 31, No 2, 1997. pp.197-228.
11. O. Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom. 1947 p.52.
12. John Flint ‘Nigeria: The Colonial Experience from 1880-1914’ in Colonialism in Africa, 1870 – 1960. Volume 1 The History and Politics of Colonialism 1870 – 1914 . Edited by L.H. Gann and Peter Duignan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1969. p.250
13. O. Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom. 1947 p.52.
14. K. Mellanby, The Birth of Nigeria’s University. London, 1958 p.103. (quoted from John D. Hargreaves, ‘The Idea of a Colonial University’ in African Affairs. P.36),
15. John D. Hargreaves, ‘The Idea of a Colonial University’ in African Affairs, vol. 72, No. 286, January 1973. pp.26-36.
16. The Holy Bible, The New King James Version. New Testament, The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 7 verse 12. p. 1383. Thomas Nelson. 1979.