The Politics Of Ethnic Cleansing In Nigeria

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To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men--Abraham Lincoln

No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth--Plato

We Nigerians seem to be in one of those rare unharmonic convergences of time when reality is more absurd than satire. So in writing this article I have decided to dispense with the satire and simply make a deep dive into the issue of the day which is the recent sacking of 200 senior military officers mostly from the south whose crime is that they have been found guilty of being sympathetic to the Jonathan regime.

It would appear that right before our eyes, Nigerians are witnessing a carefully executed and systematic implementation of an agenda artfully crafted long before this administration came to power. It is an agenda that has ranged from the selective prosecution of the war against corruption, though a noble effort to the sectional preferences in terms of federal appointments and a legislative agenda geared at legitimizing the interests of a section of the country.

All through it all, there appears to be an oath of silence amongst the country’s elite not to talk of the Northern bourgeoisie. There seems to be the absence of a voice of reason from any of our living ex-presidents willing to stick out his neck by cautioning our new leaders about the impending consequences of some of their actions.

Lets start with the most recent which is the sacking of the officers, 200 in number. Even though we are yet to get specific details of their alleged crimes, it will be pertinent to say that this is an unprecedented act that is fraught with a lot of unforeseen consequences. We all know that soldiers all over the world by virtue of their code of conduct are supposed to follow orders. By virtue of the fact that the president is also the Commander-in –Chief of the armed forces, how can anyone fault some of these officers for following orders by a superior officer? If during the Jonathan and Yar Adua Presidencies these officers were ordered or instructed to perform duties outside the confines of their military responsibilities and the expectation of being A-political, then the president should be held accountable and not the soldiers themselves. Be that as it may the least this government should have done would have ben to suspend or demote them by one rank and not dismiss them from the army. If I may ask, what about the army officers who committed similar crimes during the Obasanjo regime or is it different strokes for different presidents who happen not to be ex-military leaders?

For those in the North who do not seem to see anything wrong with this firing of mostly Southern military officers, will they be willing to accept same if in future a President from the South decide to fire all senior military officers mostly from the North who served under the Buhari presidency? What this president has done is setting a very bad precedence whose future repercussions and consequences is capable of wreaking the fabric of this nation not to talk of the low morale this one singular action is capable of engendering in the Nigerian army in terms of its solidarity, unity and sense of purpose. Whether we want to accept it or not, there appears to be a Northern cabal who are holding this Presidency hostage and dictating to him the way they think he should go. These people are a vile, petulant, hateful passel of obstructionists whose only unifying glue is their determination to pursue the interest of the North.

When you look at the federal appointments so far, there is no denying the fact that there is a Northernization agenda being carefully implemented. There is no denying the fact that the president has the right to appoint those he is comfortable working with. But fortunately we have a constitution that requires every president to consider the ethnic, geographical, and religious make up of the country in making appointments. There is also no doubt that the president is cognizant of this constitutional requirement but has chosen to ignore it. It would appear that his idea of making Nigeria work is to appoint Northerners to every sensitive senior federal position and let the chips fall where they may. He divides the country into winners and losers hence he was once quoted as saying the 5% who voted for him from the South east should not expect the same treatment as the 95% from the North who voted for him. True to his words his appointments have so far been a true reflection of those sentiments. If there is one thing you can say about the president, it is that he is a man of his words, but a reformed democrat he is not.

Recently on the recommendation of the Police Service Commission, the Inspector General of Police approved the promotion of 11 senior police officers to ranks ranging from deputy commissioners to Assistant Inspector-general. Out of the 11, 10 were from the North. In a multi ethnic country like Nigeria, not one Igbo or Yoruba Police officer was considered good enough for promotion. Something similar also happened in the Nigerian Customs and Excise. In the federal civil service which is now headed by a northerner after his Igbo predecessor was removed, there is a gradual retirement of seasoned civil servants from the south. In the presidency itself a majority of the senior staff members and advisers are from the North. When you look at all these developments, the questions they raise and the resentment they engender has to be answered someday or they will fester and that’s a risk the country cannot afford. As the saying goes, ‘Coincidences have consequences”. All those who expected this president to be different from his real self must have been in denial. We all knew what his views were on various issues regarding the North and the Moslem religion. The reality is that a true convert hardly revert back to his old ways as this president has done. To expect him to revert to the norms of governance and democratic politics is like expecting a peg to fit in a round hole. It is not going to happen and to ask him to back away from who he really is, his real political persona would represent a wrenching departure from form.

To me personally, it does not really matter who he appoints or where they come from, except that they have to be qualified and effective in the performance of their duties. The reality however is that for certain sections of the country’s population, it does matter. They get a feeling of being left out, of not being wanted and appreciated. Unfortunately the general consensus so far is that most of the new ministers are unaccomplished and are yet to distinguish themselves in the positions they occupy. For instance we have a Foreign Affairs minister who is virtually unknown. I guess a majority of Nigerians will be hard pressed to remember his name. But then are we right in blaming him when it appears his duties have been usurped by the presidency. As we all know the president so far attends every foreign bilateral conference himself . From all indications, Nigeria’s foreign policies today are made from the top and passed down a power vertical to the foreign ministry. You get the feeling that Ministers are afraid or reluctant to act without clear instructions from Aso Rock. The ministers who meet with the president leave with only a vague idea of what they are supposed to do. That notwithstanding we have a neophyte as our economic minister and we wonder why the economy has hit rock bottom. We also have an Information Minister who opens his mouth before he thinks of what he is going to say and is constantly either lying or contradicting himself.

There is no doubt that the president rescued a failing nation by virtue of his election. Unfortunately for him he assumed the presidency during one of the worst periods of our economic history, with falling oil prices, unbridled corruption and the emergence of Boko Haram. Despite his successes he can still do better in uniting the country. Governance in an environment of uncertainty requires a willingness to adjust to mistakes and move quickly rather than digging in or pursuing failed policies, for fear of admitting failure. In fact obsessively trying to avoid failure can led to the greater failure of missing the big opportunity. Despite what most Nigerians may think of the president, his aura of legitimacy since his election is basically influenced by people’s impression of him. To borrow max Weber’s classic categories of authority, the president’s legitimacy initially stemmed from the “rational legal authority’ bestowed on an elected leader. However over the last one year he has begun to draw legitimacy from what Weber called “Charismatic authority’’. As Weber wrote of the “Charismatic leader”, men do not obey him by virtue of tradition or statue, but because they believe in him and have come to see him as someone who will save the country. 12 months into office, that image is being tested.

What we need in Nigeria today is modern idealistic individualism trouncing faded ethnic solidarity. Here the president can set the tone. Nigerians of all tribes must be made to feel like they have a stake in the country. Moslems and Christians alike must consider themselves Nigerians first and their religion second, the constitution first before their religious mandates. Every Nigerian must be made to feel safe and welcomed in any part of the country. A qualified southerner should be considered for political appointment in the North and vice versa. All acts of victimization and senseless killing in the name of religion must be universally condemned by every group and those responsible punished to the full extent of the law. The president as it is has a difficult job to perform and he needs all the prayers and encouragement he can get from well -meaning Nigerians, but we must never fail to voice our concern when we see things going the wrong way, and we can do so respectfully without insulting or casting aspersions on anyone.

So far the president has done a good job fighting the scourge of corruption, but more can be done especially when it comes to the issue of most of our corrupt ex-Governors, many of whom are presently luxuriating in the comfort and anonymity of the Senate chambers as if they have no care in the world. It is not wise to wage an all out war against the Delta Avengers. Dialogue must be the only way out to lasting peace.

On the issue of the agitation for Biafra, what most Nigerians, including those in authority have failed to realize is that the spirit, the essence of Biafra lies in the hearts and souls of every Igbo man and it cannot be wished away by force or by the killing of innocent demonstrators. All that is needed is for this section of the country to be given a sense of belonging and not marginalized. When the entire South eastern states get a paltry few billions of dollars for capital projects under the new budget, when one state in the north gets double, something is definitely wrong.

This administration can do better. Nigerians are generally a very hopeful and patient people. We are not a people prone to the destructive public demonstrations as witnessed in Egypt and other places, but at the same time they should not be taken for granted. As Nigerians, we are all in this together. Buhari’s success is our success and he will need all our support to succeed.

Nnanna Ijomah Bsc MA (International Relations) is a New York based Political Science lecturer.

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Articles by Nnanna Ijomah