SEPARATION AS THE ONLY ANSWER TO NIGERIA’S TROUBLES

by Nwanchor Festus
(Omege, Noyo in Ikwo LGA, of Ebonyi State)

The solutions to the problems in Nigeria are simple.
BY: NWANCHOR FESTUS ONYEKA
SEPARATE NIGERIA TODAY
Nigeria’s situation is utterly hopeless and it is only fools who refuse to see that the only solution to the problem is the division of the country. There will never come a time when it will get better. This conclusion is very easy to reach because the Islamic killers or Boko Haram jihadists are killing for religion. (They can always manifest with different names, Maitatsine or whatever other name but their operations and mission remain the same). For them they do not see anything morally wrong with the killings; it is the work of God they are doing. And since they see their actions as such then they will not stop because that will mean acting in disobedience to their God and religious teachings. The Nigerian Islamic killings are ideological killings and Igbo or Biafrans must stay away in their own sovereign independent state or they will continue to get killed by the Islamic Nigerian state.
BREAKDOWN OF LAW AND ORDER
In Nigeria the government is incapable of securing the lives and properties of those within its borders. The state cannot guarantee the protection of the people within its jurisdiction. In a legitimate and just state or society, because there is supposed to be an equitable justice system the native people depend on it to protect their rights and interests. In such social justice systems there are built in checks and balances that check the excesses of the privileged and powerful among them. In all decent human societies it is the state or the collective that must have monopoly of the instrument of violence. It should also be the prerogative of the state to establish institutions and just systems for the arbitration and dispensing of justice in matters of dispute between society members. And after fair hearings it must be the preserve of the state to determine the right kind of punishment due the adjudged offender and fair reward to the victim of the offense. It is based on this principle that all societies survive and thrive. But the extant Nigerian state is completely bereft of any of these basic principles on which a state must exist. Therefore, it goes without saying that the only option there is to solve Nigeria’s problem is the dissolution of the endemically dysfunctional union.
INADEQUATE JUSTICE SYSTEM
In Nigeria it is not only that the government does not have the sole control of the instrument of violence to peoples’ lives and properties, the legal institution of the country is a complete sham and no sensible people can stake their lives and existence in such. For nearly five decades the peoples within its borders especially the Igbo/Biafra ethnic peoples have been left to provide security to their lives and properties. This, of course as expected, is always grossly inadequate because they, as private citizens, cannot muster the size of equipment and sophistication needed to counter the threats and attacks they face in Nigeria on a daily basis. So given just this singular reason the basis for allegiance and the surrender of individual’s and community’s sovereignty is not there. It is therefore logical to insist on the fact that Igbo/Biafra peoples will not for any reason remain members of such a society where the justice system has been so diminished and bastardized and where their lives and properties are mere cannon fodders that continually fuel the terrible fire of Islamic intolerance, fear and hatred. The Igbo/Biafrans would rather belong to a society where they will collectively establish a criminal justice system that works and is capable of dispensing justice and fairness to the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor and all people of every station in life not minding their religious faith or political opinions. Partitioning the Nigerian union along the already existing cultural/religious divides will solve this problem.
INTOLERANCE
Human beings are basically social beings. What that means is that humans can only live in societies of other human beings. But there is the natural tendency in human beings to hold opinions and perspectives that contrast with those of their neighbor’s which invariably lead to tensions and conflicts among the human members of a society. It then becomes a matter of priority, if they expect to live together successfully, that they must find ways to resolve conflicts and frictions resulting from their social relationships without resorting to

destroying each other. One way to do just that is for individuals to learn to tolerate divergent opinions and perspectives of their neighbors so that when disagreement occurs, it is not allowed to degenerate to the level of unfounded fear and hatred and worse still, the destruction of lives and properties such as take place against Igbo/Biafran ethnic peoples in Nigeria on a daily basis. And all these problem of intolerances should be solved today by dividing Nigeria.
TOLERANCE AS PRELUDE TO PROGRESS
In a world with a population of 7 billion people, and given the fact that it is in human nature for different individuals to always hold different opinions that may conflict with those of their neighbor’s, a frictionless human social existence would be unthinkable. But we must quickly state that conflicts and frictions are not always negative. And going by the collective human experience of several centuries, rather than discourage differences in opinions, it is beneficial in the overall to encourage them because when properly managed they help to enrich the collective human experience; our lives and societies. Based on the history of both ancient and modern world, it can easily be argued that all the progress and improvements that human beings have made have directly resulted from the diversities in people’s opinions. Thinking differently from our neighbors helps the society to grow positively in various and diverse directions. Therefore, the key ingredient that must be present in any society that must succeed is tolerance of diversities of views and opinions. And when any society such as Nigeria remains intolerant of the views of their supposedly fellow citizens then that society becomes retrogressive and cannot survive and must disintegrate.
COLLECTIVE ASPIRATION
The purpose of unity is for strength and rapid progress because more people can accomplish more and in less time than a fewer people. So if societies must be collected into a unit the union must be engineered to achieve those two goals or the unity is a waste of time and effort. Societies as individual human persons have different identities or personalities that are unique to them. These societal identities are manifested through the people’s unique way of doing things or their way of life which is formed through their overall worldview. So if two or more of such different and unique societies must be congregated in one place as a unit or country, then they must find a way to reconcile their differences and form a new identity by which they can be known and agree to pursue a common purpose as a society. As long as the individual congregating units are not prepared to surrender their uniqueness in order to assume the new collective ID, then the union will never work and must be disbanded. This is so basic and should be very easy to see as that explains why all the effort being used to maintain a “one-Nigeria” will continue to be a waste. Nigeria as a country has no unity of purpose or a common aspiration because it has no unified corporate identity. Each confederating unit in the Nigerian union is pursuing separate goals that are in direct contrast from those of their neighbor’s. As everyday events show, the Islamic Nigerian state and its peoples do not see eye to eye with and will not tolerate the divergent opinions of the Christian Igbo/Biafrans. The only practical solution to this lack of a unified pursuit and deep rooted animosity against the Igbo/Biafrans is the separation of Biafra from the Nigerian union right away.
CREATE BIAFRA AND ISLAMIC STATES
Since history, if any society must progress or develop, it must have a collective social aspiration; a goal that the society is jointly pursuing. It is based on this unified social pursuit that the society can legitimately be regarded as one.
But to further buttress my point, let me excite you a little with these findings, which I believe you must be familiar with: According to the IMF, Nigeria's GDP for last year was $272 Billion, which is above that of countries like: Israel, Hongkong, New Zealand, Ireland and other major countries that you might wanna say are far ahead of Nigeria. Now, the question is: Where do we always get it wrong???
Note, research has found that, if Nigeria can fix its Power sector, it will add over $100 Billion to its GDP annually. So the solution lies in putting aright some key sectors of d economy and Nigeria will be the better for it.