Re: Dictatorship of the minorities

Let me put it to you this way, if dictatorship of the majorities is sweet to them and worth striving to maintain, why shouldn’t the dictatorship of the minorities be sweet to them and worth struggling for? The applicable English saying is, “What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.” In […]

Let me put it to you this way, if dictatorship of the majorities is sweet to them and worth striving to maintain, why shouldn’t the dictatorship of the minorities be sweet to them and worth struggling for? The applicable English saying is, “What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.” In any fair competition, the same rules should apply to all teams and all of them should have an equal chance of winning. In a situation where the winner takes all, as it is in Nigerian politics, the stakes are even higher and the competition fiercer.

Secondly, I totally agree with you when you said, “No doubt, the political class, especially of contemporary times, sees politics as basically an economic exercise. Their concept of leadership is not anchored on the philosophy of service and history.” Government is very rich, economic development has eluded us due to poor governance and corruption.  Today, employment opportunities are too few and private enterprise is tough. Politics beckons us as an easy window through which to escape poverty and get rich quickly. Don’t blame the political class for the rot; blame the followership for not rejecting the political class.

Thirdly, you touched on a very sensitive issue, albeit, unwittingly when you said, “…the soldiers thought that national unity was an artificial contraption in a fragile federal structure like Nigeria.” The Nigerian federal structure is anything but fragile. The federating units (now 36 States and FCT) have never negotiated the terms of their federation. Many Nigerian from states in the south-west of the country have been clamoring for a “sovereign national conference” to do just that, and quite rightly so. Our Constitution says, “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria …” do declare that, “Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state…” yet we agree that our federal structure is very fragile. Are we being sincere to ourselves? Why don’t we firm up, concretize, strengthen, improve and confirm our national unity by all the federating units coming together (outside of the Constitution, of course) and openly discussing our differences, preferences and then agreeing the way forward? You quoted Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as suggesting to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe that what they needed to do most was to understand more their differences as a strategy of building national cohesion and development through unity. How best could Balewa’s suggestion be achieved if not via a sovereign national conference? By ‘sovereign’ I mean outside of the current Constitution in order to discuss the terms of a new Constitution.

Fourthly, you opined that the soldiers mutilated the country into 36 States thus eroding the basis of federating because the units federating are so tiny and too numerous to retain any measure of autonomy which the 4 Regions in the first republic enjoyed. I am sure you are aware that there are already 33 requests for new States before the National Assembly and more are expected. The Senate President, David Mark, and his deputy, Ekweremadu, have been assuring us they intend to process these requests as they are genuine aspirations of Nigerians. Haven’t we eroded the very basis of our federating enough already? You will agree with me that requests for more States in Nigeria are selfish, myopic and unserious and so should not be entertained by any responsible government. My opinion is that the Local Government system should be abolished; the 6 geo-political zones should be converted to regional governments while the present states remain as the lowest level of governance. This arrangement will remove a lot of the glamour and power of the Presidency and create 6 regional governors who will wield so much political and economic influence over their zones that attention will be on them and not on the federal government. State Police will become possible only with this arrangement. Further subdividing the federating units is the wrong antidote for our political development as rightly asserted by the late Prime Minister, Balewa. State agitators should go and find another job instead of trying to fragment the giant of Africa, Nigeria, into 250 ethnic kingdoms.

Fifthly, you said, “This format of alliance except for the realignment of forces between the Tiv, a major and cardinal group in the North Central with what has come to be known as the dominant Hausa/Fulani North were retained in the politics of the second republic. This saw the ascendency of the NPN to power in 1979.” The exact meaning of the first part of this statement is obscure but the second part suggests that the NPN came to power in 1979 only because the Hausa/Fulani were in that party. That is, other political parties in Nigeria will always be losers, like the Tiv and their co-travelers in 1979, unless they align with the Hausa/Fulani tribe. Is that true? The minorities are right now calling your bluff on that point. Nine States in the so-called ‘North’ have just rejected PDP’s zoning formula, while ten states think otherwise. The nine happen to represent the many minorities in the ‘North’ while the other ten are all ‘Sharia’ states. Can you see the new political boundaries forming? Not surprisingly, a new minorities advocacy group was launched in Abuja on Thursday, August 05, 2010 called Congress for Equality and Change (CEC). At least, the Nigerian minorities will now have their say, Kabir. Politicians have a saying that, “The minority can have their say; but the majority will have their way.” The Nigerian minorities under the Chairmanship of Chief Edwin Clark not only hope to have their say, but to also have their way in 2011 through ganging up. This is a very healthy development in our politics.  

Sixthly, the fact that previous alignments with the Hausa/Fulani ‘North’ enabled minorities like Ameh Ebute and David Mark to enjoy the perks of political high office did not blind them nor the rest of their marginalized brothers and sisters. Their stand on the latest debates (zoning inclusive) testifies to this. I hope you are no more surprised at Jonathan Zwingina’s stand. His sentiments are not ‘pseudo’ as you suggest but real. But why did you put down Jerry Gana so much? I can’t understand.

Lastly, your last paragraph really insults “certain groups” in this country (the minorities?). You said that certain groups would never have made it to the top public offices in a plural society like Nigeria. You mean that “certain groups” like yours (with FRSC slogans like “BORN TO RULE”) must always rule and only temporarily assign offices to whom they will from time to time. What you are saying is that all citizens of Nigeria are not equal; some are more equal than others. If not, why must another person’s fate rest in the whims and caprices of another? Why shouldn’t we all aspire to the highest office in the land? I believe that rotation will be practiced naturally because all of us know the fair thing to do without being told. The PDP kind of zoning and rotation was designed by a “certain group” for their selfish interest and that is why it is repugnant to “certain other groups.” Minorities are not necessarily sub-human or stupid. They will assert their rights and they will get them or 1914 should be undone.

James Pam wrote from Jos. [email protected]