WHERE IS IBB, YAKUBU GOWON, ABDULSALAMI ABUBAKAR, THEOPHILUS DANJUMA & CO?

 There are times when silence is not golden. This is such a time for the Nigerian nation. In exactly seven weeks, the people of Nigeria will make a monumental decision. The decision is likely to determine whether this nation continues to straggle on, tips over, or begins to move in a new positive direction that gives new hope to millions of our young people who are today demoralised and consumed by hopelessness.

Several times, from top to bottom, I have read the New Year letter written to the Nigerian youth by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Of course, I have observed that the traditional political jobbers who profit and want to continue to profit from the chaos that is Nigeria have since gone after the former president spewing arrant nonsense. It leaves you to wonder whether they actually read the letter and understood its import before jumping on their laptops to start typing their inanities.

For instance, I read a statement issued immediately by the Director of Media and Publicity of one of the major presidential campaigns who says that former President Obasanjo’s letter is of no value. It left me scratching my head.

With more than one thousand words, the gentleman quickly replies a letter not addressed to him, widely circulates his reply and says that the letter he has clearly burnt the midnight oil to reply, has no value! The gentleman also says that the former president is “not a democrat anyone should be proud to be associated with”. Wait a minute … Not long ago, his principal and his coterie of supporters were very well reported with photos and videos to have travelled to Abeokuta in desperate search of the endorsement of the same man who is not a democrat anyone should be proud to be associated with!

Yes, several times, from top to bottom, I have read the letter written by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo. It is a cherished new year present to me. In the letter, President Obasanjo frontally addressed what is possibly Nigeria’s biggest challenge of the last several decades, the divisions, suspicions and mistrust in the country which has held Nigeria hostage and led to so much bloodshed and dehumanisation and bred the many separatist militias across the country and fueled the politics of hatred.

I hope I am permitted to copiously quote the historic document. Asks President Obasanjo: “Can we let the past go? I appeal to the young Nigerians to stop inheriting other people’s prejudices and enemies. Make your own friends and stop inheriting your father’s enemies.

“Let’s stop criminalising and demonising one another on the basis of the civil war on which we are all wrong. And let’s praise and thank God for preserving the oneness of Nigeria.

“The Scripture says that if God would take account of all our wrongdoings, nobody would be able to stand before Him. While not suffering from amnesia, let us stop still fighting and reacting to the civil war in our hearts, minds, heads and our attitude acrimoniously.

“Let’s stop living on our different wrongs or mistakes of the past: treasonable felony, Tiv riot and its handling, first military coup and its aftermath, second military coup, araba, pogrom and the civil war, all in the 1960s. And more recently OPC, Egbesu, MASSOB, IPOB, Boko Haram and banditry. No region can claim to be innocent or to be saintly. And no justification will suffice.

“In our respective individual or regional positions, we have done right and we have done wrong. It is therefore not right for any of us to be sanctimonious to see ourselves as saints and the rest as devils incarnate.

“Just let us agree to move forward together in mutual forgiveness, one accord, inclusive society, equality and equity. Together and without bias and discrimination, fear or favour, we can have Nigeria of one nation in diversity, in truth and in practice. Let us honour, cherish, respect and even celebrate our diversity which is the basis of our potential greatness and strength.

“If we will only continue to harp on wrongs done by each of us individually or collectively, we will never be able to stand together. If we will continue with wide brush to paint a national or sub-national group as bad and never to be trusted with leadership because of past error or mistakes that some of them were responsible for and treat their offspring as inheritors, it will amount to great injustice that will surely lead to no peace, no security and no stability for development and progress.

“First, no group is faultless; second, for the greatness of the whole, we need one another as constituents of the whole; third, we cannot be talking and working for Africa’s integration and for Nigeria’s disintegration at the same time. Why for instance should I be stigmatised or despised because of my place of origin, place of birth or where I come from? Where I was born, by whom I was born and when I was born were not choices made by me. They were choices and prerogatives of God”.

The civil war ended in January 1970. This is January 2023, 53 years after. Most of the people who live in Nigeria today where not born when the civil war ended, some are already grandparents but so much has continued to be done by all kinds of groups to make sure that the horrors, injustice, barbarism and hatred of the civil war continue to incubate in our hearts. The hatred has become the currency with which a lot of people seek power. A young Igbo man is cautioned never to trust a Yoruba man because Awolowo banned the importation of stockfish during the civil war to starve Igbos. The young innocent Yoruba man is cautioned to steer clear of Igbos because Zik once betrayed the Yorubas. It does not matter that both Awolowo and Zik are long gone.

Unfortunately, the hatred continues to be spread and promoted in our churches, mosques, social clubs, town unions, the civil service, political parties, etc. The result is that we are leaving a legacy of a nation built on hate for our children and grandchildren.

Rwanda is today touted as one of the most progressive nations in Africa. The horrendous Rwandan genocide in which hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens were massacred took place in 1994, 24 years after the end of the Nigerian civil war. The people of Rwanda have found a way to move on but Nigerians are still fighting a war that ended 53 years ago!

Can you imagine what the difference will be if going forward in our churches, mosques, social clubs, town unions, the civil service, political parties, etc., the teachings and clamor are about forgiveness, unity and progress. We would have disarmed most of the anarchists tormenting us.

President Obasanjo has made a clarion call. In his letter he wrote, “Youth of Nigeria, your time has come, and it is now and please grasp it. If not now, it will be never. I appeal to you to turn the tide on its head and march forward chanting ‘Awa Lokan’ (Our turn) not with a sense of entitlement, but with a demonstrable ideological commitment to unity and transformation of Nigeria”. These are powerful words that meet the time.

Love him or hate him, General Obasanjo has been bold. He has taken a stand. Where are the likes of IBB, Yakubu Gowon, Abdusalami Abubakar, Theophilus Danjuma and co? Maybe they do not have any opinion or they like the way things are or they are luxuriating in the comfort of their silence? They don’t want anyone to call them names or disturb their peace or they think that whatever they say will not make a difference. The Nigerian nation has given these men opportunities that millions of Nigerians cannot even contemplate. It is expected that when they pass on, as we all must, they will get state burials. Roads and institutions will be named after them. Is it too much to ask that at this period of serious national need, they make an effort to inspire the young people of Nigeria? They do not have to agree with President Obasajo but it is clear in my head that this a time when silence is not golden.

See you next week.

CHIEF TONY OKORJI