Re: We, On The Edge By Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

“In private, managers of this country who would rather sweep our current conditions under mountains of carpets accuse some of us who speak like this of undermining national security and exaggerating how bad things really are.

But they are hard put to explain the abductions of school children;

Boko Haram’s audacious exchanges of towns and populations with our fighting forces;

Attacks on targeted Northern communities in the South with virtually no consequences;

The on-going strike by Northern farmers and transporters which is raising the cost of food in the South;

Frightening rhetorics on the consequences of decisions by politicians on rotation of the presidency;

Community action to cleanse ethnic groups from localities;

The rise of local thugs who enjoy strong state patronage and protection and above all alarming rise on social media in language and style which indicate how far Nigerians think they are from each other.” — Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

Dear Dr Baba-Ahmed,

Thank you for the above brief summary of the catalogue of sociopolitical and economic ills that are currently bogging down and will inevitably bury the Nigeria State. These inexhaustible lists of national ailments that you’ve identified are among those political impediments that have relegated Nigeria to the shameful class of a Failed State in the comity of nations.

It is too late now to pass recriminations on who did what or who didn’t do what. The people of ‘Nigeria’ must put this inglorious political experiment behind them as a spectacularly failed attempt in the building of a progressive nation state.

Like in all voluntary relationships (not one of forced enslavement or of the colonised), when the issue of incompatibility of ideas, of beliefs, of goals, of expectations and of lifestyle choices between once upon a time good friends and lovers, have become strenuously irreconcilable, the only rational and best option open to them will be an amicable separation or divorce.

It’s a shame that you are hanging up your pen as a columnist in the Vanguard Newspaper. We shall greatly miss your perspective on the national issues of the day. Your weekly contributions have been able to give those of us with keen eyes of observation, a unique insight into the thoughts and manners of the intelligentsia class of the “core North”.

Personally, I will like to wish you well in your new aspiration that desires “to devote more time to those efforts that try to pull the country from the edge.” But I will sincerely advise that you should devote your energy to the building of the political and economic structures of whatever ethnic group you belong to. The intelligentsia class need to help the masses to face the future of a restructured or disbanded Nigeria as each ethnic group strives towards economic independence and political self-determination.

We must all work hard to put a stop to the uncanny deception of One United Indivisible Nigeria. This age-long political deceit, if viewed objectively with a nonpartisan stance, has not done any of the ethnic groups any good. But instead of ushering in blessings and progressive development to the country, it has brought untold misfortune and avoidable hardships. Without a pragmatic effort on all sides of the divide, the ill-advised deception born of stupidity is about to sink Nigeria into a deeper and unfathomable existential destruction.

Nigeria can still avoid the fast impending disaster if the elites are prepared to approach the Restructuring/Dissolution Round-Table Discussions amicably; to dialogue together objectively; and to set aside all parochial loyalties as they make rational arrangements to secure practicable political and economic outcomes for all.

Without doubt, if the mission is handled with sincerity of purpose based solely on a common respect for the human rights of the people regardless of the ethnic status, beliefs, sex, language, etc., Nigeria can still secure a safe landing to all concerned.

In my humble opinion, I think, the current national chaos, anarchy, insecurity, the rule of banditry instead of the rule of law in and around the country, have forced on us a deadly political circumstances which are now totally beyond our control. This momentous sad and politically delicate period demands that we put on our thinking caps and find a workable resolution to the present national predicament.

The individual and collective welfare of our people as human beings and as indigenous ethnic groups are at stake. We can not afford to sacrifice the lives of the generality of the innocent people of the country in order to satisfy the egoistic pursuits of the few political gangster among us.

I sincerely wish you and all ‘Nigerians’ well as we face the national and global existential uncertainties of the immediate future.

In the Spirit of Truth

SAM ABBD ISRAEL

Note:

We, On The Edge by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed