I
have been greatly jolted by the vicious hate exchanges of the last two weeks,
between brothers and sisters of the south-east and south-west of Nigeria. Forget whatever the cause is; it does not
really matter to me. It got to a point
that I stopped reading altogether; main writings and comments alike. I was
jolted because it finally dawned on me that I may have been living in a fool’s
paradise, thinking that we were actually brothers and sisters; people who no
doubt were brought together, not by deliberate choice but by design – God’s
design I dare say. Somebody may say that
I must be a poor student of history – lacking in the history of colonial and
independent Nigeria, and the past existence between the brothers and sisters of
these geographies of Nigeria –to think of brotherliness, design, and all
that. I am not I must say. It is just
that my upbringing, my childhood and my relationships in the last 3 decades of
my life (by the way, I belong to the post war era), has virtually made it
difficult to think otherwise, in spite of all the history that I have packed
into my brain.
A
few days ago, I was on the phone with a bosom childhood friend of mine, from
the south-west; one that I am proud of till tomorrow. We were short of weeping over the phone
discussing recent events in Nigeria – we never cease to do so each time we
talk. We recounted our growing up days in south-south Nigeria, where design
first brought us together. In our little
society then were children from all the geographies in Nigeria that you can
think of. We did things together – good,
bad, ugly. We competed, fought, settled,
forgave one another quickly and moved on, schemed, dreamed together-all in very
healthy circumstances. When necessary,
as you will expect with children/teenagers/young people, we formed our small
groups based on attraction/content of character as we saw at the time; not
recognising which region the other came from.
The others’ idiosyncrasies were interpreted as being of the individual
in question and had nothing to do with his race or tribe or ethnicity or colour
or parentage, etc. – there were no such in our dictionaries at the time. We influenced each other in our different ways. Of course you will expect some to have
certain character trait that was stronger/more positive and which naturally
stood out, influencing more. This cut across all the children in my little
community – we still talk of these with some fondness today, and appreciate
each other for the influences we had on each other which have contributed
immensely to our lives today.
I
was glad that I had this contact/orientation before I read much of our
chequered history and listened to stories.
My father and subsequent guardians for one never told me any tales of
hate (my father was a teacher and great story teller). My father’s war stories were more about
display of valour and fortitude in the face of daunting difficulties than that
of a hate combat. I was later to read on my own of the real and
remote/underlying causes of the war. Was
I sad about the things I read about? Yes I was and still am. To think that the generations before me could
not live in the atmosphere I did in my growing up days and possibly carried on
same into adulthood was and still is saddening.
To think that our tolerance for one another could so easily decay,
allowing us to betray, kill, counter-kill
and then take up arms to destroy/kill same persons that a week before,
were our immediate neighbours – persons we ate and drank together - were
unthinkable to me. All I read could not
completely change my opinion of my childhood friends from ethnic nationalities
different from mine, hard as such tried.
My experiences as a growing child were the most real and objective to
me; what I read were before I came on the scene – they were the accounts of
others.
You
can see my pain, when the volcanoes of these past weeks started erupting. To think that such deep seated hate exists in
the hearts of a people who have co-existed this many years was unbelievable. To also think that many of the dramatis
personae of the past years of hate have passed on – meaning that the agents of
the present are mostly those of my near or immediate generation - and yet this
hate persists is even more worrying.
Could it be the case that they did not have the opportunity to
experience the atmosphere of my growing up days? But I have also heard others, who grew up in
other regions of the country; recount their experiences similar to mine. Is it
that they have simply been overtaken by the accounts in history/story books –
the books I have refused the opportunity to overtake me? Or that they do not
see any design/divinity in our co-existence? Or they have been made lesser
men/women by the forces of hate, prejudice, impure jealousy and all such
despicable vices that so easily enslave men and women?
I
have had seasons to doubt our co-existence, but my reasons have never been
strong enough to truly convince me; the experience of my growing up days is
always one big factor that fights my doubts to a standstill. Above all else, I am convinced that this is by
divine design. All continents, regions,
countries, races, ethnicities, tribes, etc., need each other; if not today,
certainly tomorrow. Just like the master
today, may someday need his or her servant of today and vice versa. This is Gods design and it is forever.
Our
past leaders have (as in many other areas), failed us in not promoting strong
mutual co-existence. Their recorded
utterances, decisions and conducts at various times negated the fact that we
have been brought together by divine design and so must seek to outdo each
other in deep/whole hearted tolerance, trust, respect, forgiveness and
love. They have not sought to harness
the great benefits of our peculiar diversity, even at great pains. I saw the beauty and strength of this
diversity in my growing up days. I
looked through the year book of my children’s school recently and discovered to
my joy that my last son’s best friend was from the south-west. I also looked up another child who chose my
son as his best friend and again discovered he was from the south-west. This was the atmosphere during my growing up
days and it made me very happy. I must confess that I would have been greatly
disappointed if all of my sons’ best friends were from their geographic divide;
it would have saddened me the more in the light of recent happenings in the
country and my reminiscences.
In
discussing with my bosom friend of nearly three decades recently, we agreed
that our generation must rise up and win where our past leaders failed –
pursuing strong bonds as a people brought together by divine design. This goes beyond lofty speeches and claims in
write-ups, although out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The convictions in our speeches and write-ups
must be demonstrated by our daily utterances, decisions and conduct, in every
place and situation. We must seek to
harness the positives in our brashness, cockiness, flamboyance, tact,
suaveness, loquaciousness, etc. for our common good and in building a solid and
prosperous country. Truth again is that
we are here for the long-haul, in whatever arrangement – regional, federal
(fiscal, etc.). Even if we chose
tomorrow to exist as smaller independent units, we will still co-exist in some
unique respect – there still will be elements of divine design in our cross
border relationships.
I
ask every member of my generation to henceforth cease engaging in these
unpleasant hostilities. Let’s direct our
writing energies in articulating the way forward as we prepare ourselves for
taking over the mantle of leadership; some have already done so – in business,
industry, academia, politics and governance, etc. Those who have been dragged into these murky
waters of ethnic hate and bigotry must retrace their steps immediately. We must
engage our intellects again in searching out the very principles and dynamics
of human co-existence. All of us are
wanderers; we were at different places at different times. This may certainly not be our last places
while still here, you never know.
