IJAW Could Not Have Been President In Any Other Nation

We must ask all the cheerleaders encouraging Niger Delta Avengers and other militia groups mushrooming demands or blackmail: which part of Arewa Republic, Odua, or IPOB Republic are we willing to concede to Ijaw President? Biafra would have died if Ojukwu had been President.

How soon we forget that it was only yesterday that Ijaw was only one of the small minorities in the Delta. However they emerged, they are now so big, Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Urhobo and Edo are on equal status with Ijaw agitation. They became the most prominent ethnic group as a compensation for the degradation of their environment since the rest of Nigeria fed on their oil income. No population in a state with their right sense would poison the well they drink from.

Niger Delta was that well. One would expect Nigeria to pay special attention to these polluted areas where oil comes from. Any part of Nigeria looking at the polluted swamp would never pray or wish for such oil discovery near them. The amount of money, effort and cooperation needed to restore many areas of Niger Delta is so gigantic, the price of oil needed worldwide may not be enough to compensate for opportunity cost or repairs; if this damage continues.

The point must be made clear to Ijaw that one of them became the President, not because it was their turn since there were bigger minorities waiting. Ijaw was made the President for the sake of peace and harmony in the Country to compensate them for the injustice perpetrated on their land that was turned into environmental polluted wasteland. It was not their turn or right.

Six years were long, though a short time in history. If separation was the only option left, there was no one in a position to implement it than the Ijaw President himself. It could have been easier for President Jonathan than any other President from other parts of the Country. Indeed, the other parts of the Country are so sick and tired may have been infected by separation fever.

Those who claimed it was harder for Ijaw President, Ojukwu couldn’t, were being disingenuous. What is harder for all Ijaw is to become the President that includes any part of the Country. They simply do not have the number and if they decide to carve out separate entity mainly for their ethnic group, they will run into others like the Urhobo and Itshekiri that will not be willing to subject themselves to Ijaw rule. A snake no matter how big cannot successfully digest a cow.

Ijaw minority status will make their situation worse because in a democracy, a majority carries the votes. There are just not enough of them. In the South-southern states except in Bayelsa, Urhobo and Anioma outnumber them in Delta State. In River State Ikwere outnumber them. In Akwa Ibom and Cross River states they are smaller than Ibibio and Efik. The real powerhouse or the sleeping giant of the South-south are the Edo in their State and Anioma in Delta.

Even more powerful are the Ikwere, the Igbo cousins that mixed with the Efik and the Calabari. In the creation of the old Mid-West, Osadebay became the Premier of the Region from the powerful Anioma group made of combination of Igbo cousins. By the time we count the Edo, Anioma, Ikwere and Urhobo, it becomes clear that it is only in Nigeria that the behemoths of the Nigeria (that is Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo) could pick or vote for an Ijaw as their President.

Outside the fragile experimentation of Nigeria for more than half a century, the Ijaw stood little chance of leading the Country. Indeed, it was Obasanjo a Yoruba from one of the 3 behemoths that made it possible for Jonathan, an Ijaw to become President. Even then, it was not an easy task because an incapacitated President Yar’Adua could have ruled the Country through the committee of some wise Hausa/Fulani. It is now history that an Ijaw man became the President.

It was not unexpected that choosing one of them as leader was the right move to reverse the devastation and bring back clean environment so that common people could go to their old way of life by fishing and creation of petrochemical industries. For over six years that the Ijaw President was at the helm of affairs, the environment got worse. Every percentage created as special allowance to compensate, ameliorate or train locals disappeared into individual pockets.

Ijaw cheerleaders do not want to talk about self-responsibilities, they are no different than their Nigerian crooks, we might even say with impunity. We are now at a point where militia groups are springing up continually demanding gratis and appeasement otherwise they would blow up the economic mainstream of the Country. The same cheerleaders would not accept Ijaw leader outside Nigeria if we break but they want Ijaw to champion secession for them; and then what?

Buhari has been quoted as saying attack on Boko Haram was an attack on the North. Well, he came back to kick their asses. When cheerleaders gear you up for secession, they may be the very one like Buhari that would come back and kick your butts. Politics is different from reality. There are war cries of secession around the Country. Some are not just loud mouths but people with causes. They have lived the Nigerian experience and it has not worked out for them.

There is nothing the North could do if all parts of Nigeria have had enough. Some Northerners threatened us against making Jonathan President. When they unleashed Boko Haram they paid dearly with their own people too, not only the lives of Southerners. It should teach us a lesson that violence begat violence and nobody has a monopoly on it. It is like a ranging fire that consumes friends and foes alike. Be careful what you wish for.

When each ethnic groups are invaded either by religious zealots or opportunists as Maitatisine, Shiite, Boko Haram or the cattle herdsmen, people want exit. The danger here is complacency on the part of Buhari Administration to face the facts and hold the bulls by the horn. Grazing areas, whether restricted to the North or South, is not the solution. Its implementation is the key so that it is not used to justify land grab in the Middle Belt and South of the Country.

Actually, there are cheerleaders around the Country that do not care, which way Nigeria goes because some know; either way they can survive. Those threatening dislocation will never stop until disintegration gets to their villages. No government can chase so many problems coming from the East, West, North and South on a constant and irritating basis. We must go for loose association or confederation; this unitary system is not working.

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Articles by Farouk Martins Aresa