The Peasants And Their Feudal-Lords, By Nnaemeka Obiarari

Between July 1993 to 1999,  immediately after the annulment of the June 12, Presidential elections,  some elements from the SW  supported by some progressives elements from the SE and SS  screamed blue murder.

It was during those periods that certain words like born to rule,  feudal lords,  oligarchs,  cabals,  Kaduna mafia  etc.  were  elevated and expressively used in our countries lexicon.  The agitators  vowed that Nigeria must be restructured back to her pre  1966 status.  They screamed for a Sovereign National Conference, SNC. They formed NADECO,  established a rogue radio station,  radio kudirat, in the UK,  threw few bombs here and there,  Then they got the Presidency in 1999 and most of those actors then became governors,  received political appointments and rode on the back of the agitation into other  prominent political positions and subsequently forgot everything about restructuring Nigeria.

Between 1999 to 2007, another set of actors and sections commenced their own variants of agitation and cry of marginalization. This time the agitations were two pronged,  in the North,  there was these new wave of sharia movement,  orchestrated and driven by some reactionary elements from  the North led by the governors,  who felt undone by some of Obasanjo's  reform programmes.  They didn't want him to upturn the status quo. They wanted to clip his wings,  so to pressure him,  bargain and get better mileage they instituted a political version of the sharia movement. They screamed for autonomy to enable them practice their sharia in the north ignoring the fact that Nigeria is constitutionally a secular state. Within  the same period in the Niger Delta,  after being exposed to the opulence of Abuja through the ill fated Abacha 2million man March,  some of the boys retreated to the creeks under all manner of names, which later came under one umbrella,  MEND to demand for better life for the  Niger Delta.  They complained of neglect  and wanted out to enable then manage and enjoy their resources.  They demanded autonomy and total resource control.  Then fast track to 2007, the north got back the Presidency and the Ijaw got the Vice Presidency,   They all dropped their agitations.  The cry for  religious autonomy and   political sharia was immediately jettisoned,  and the sharia police disbanded.  The cry against oil spill, neglect,  resource control, and  autonomy was shelved because the actors have now taken over the broth.  They gleefully dished it,  shared it,  back slapped each other and created overnight billionaires and millionaires,  while the over 100million poor masses both in the north and south continued to groan in misery.  None of them remembered again to restructure Nigeria,  because they got then the control of the broth.

Then in 2010, Yar Adua died and Jonathan took over,  some elements in the north wailed,  it is our turn,  our turn has been usurped ,.  They went back to the trenches,  issued threats,  threatened hell and brimstone,  then,  the BH insurgency blossomed,  and the blame game ensued.  By these periods,  these elements from  the Niger Delta,  who hitherto bayed for autonomy,  fiscal federalism and restructuring of Nigeria has entrenched themselves as the new lords of the Manor. They became the new feudal lords.  Abuja became adorned with all manner of fedora  hats.  Pronto they forgot about resource control,  they forgot about autonomy,  they forgot about the oil spills,  they forgot about oppression etc. Few became billionaires under these pervasive and warped political and governance structure that benefits the few but buries the overwhelming majority of the populace. Also, during  this period, some elements in the SW started singing marginalization,  and used to great effects  it's control of the media to dish out all manner of propaganda.  The North East was still boiling and they also capitalized on this  to dish our more propaganda. They regaled the masses/talakawas of the North with all manner of lies on how Jonathan hated them.  How he caused their poverty and misery from time immemorial.  They bought into the lies too. They cried for restructuring of Nigeria.  They even included it in their electoral manifesto.  Now they have power,  they have denied the manifesto.  They no longer  mention restructuring of Nigeria. They longer mention SNC. They no longer remember fiscal federalism. Why would they, when they are now in control of the BROTH?  Again the poor masses used and manipulated,  and the very gullible elites are the sore losers.

Now ,  we are saddled with an emboldened Terrorist Herdsmen from the NW who are now killing people with reckless abondon. They want to bring their serfs to their knees. Either you give us your land by force or you die .  The owners of the cattle they rear and who arms to kill and maim others are the big men of the North , those who will want Nigeria restructured. Not the poor "Talakawas".

In the South we now have a resurgent Niger Delta Avengers and   Nnamdi Kanu  and his IPOB  with narratives of how the Hausa /Fulani and Yoruba have destroyed and pauperized them.  Pitifully and regrettably the overwhelming majority of the masses  are following them sincerely and innocuously. They rightly bought into the narratives, because they feel shortchanged by the current Nigerian warped structure that is not given them the opportunity to harness their abundant talents . They are hoping that this movement will offer them the much desired  freedom and Eldorado,   just like the talakawas bought into the tales that were sold to them,  about the big Satan,  Jonathan, and his people,  who were the cause of their poverty and woes since 1960. Overwhelming majority of those that want out are sincerely believing that such opting out will offer them the opportunity to blossom unhindered.

Just as it were  in the north, where the Talakawas and the masses ignored the former presidents of Northern extraction  and political leaders,  who leveraged on the warped feeding bottle federal structure of Nigeria to loot them dry to focus on Jonathan,  Nnamdi Kanu and the leadership of IPOB,  following the same script/pattern of their contemporaries in political struggle  before them  from the other parts of Nigeria have deliberately failed to tackle first the political leaders in their LGAs and  States,  and who have over the last 16years been  co-conspirators with their perceived external  oppressors  in denying them the restructuring of Nigeria into the form that can guarantee them equal opportunities,  because they participate actively in the sharing of the broth before focusing  on other seeming external obstacles. There can be no credible Biafra with these hordes of  looters that littered our SE states and LGAs still in power and in control of political levers of coercion and manipulation. We need to set our priorities right.

Only God can say how this latest episode of the series 6 in this Lugardian contraption will end. None of these agitators or those who have gotten carried away by some of the sweet narratives behind it have bothered to know  what they will do with Biafra if it is offered to them on a platter  of gold now. How will they deal or what will they do with the internal feudal lords that have oppressed them over time? How will they ensure that the New Biafra is shielded  from the macro level corruption and perversion that has held Nigeria down over the last 45 years? How will they ensure that the same injustice that we all cry about in Nigeria is not replicated in the New Biafra, amongst the different dialect speaking Igbos  is what no one is telling us?

I feel terribly sorry for the poor masses of these country,  from the North to the Southern  part of the country.  They are actually pawns in the hands of these manipulative elites and political class,  who always use them to accomplish private and selfish objectives.  I also feel terribly sorry for most of the self acclaimed educated and enlightened ones,  who sentimentally engage in unnecessary brick bats, abuse and counter abuses,   while ignoring the root cause of the seemingly  endless retrogressive  march of this contraption to the precipice.

The bitter truth still remains that until we totally restructure this country to what it used to be pre  1966, which engendered productive and competitive development, even spread of resources and a gini index  with human face,  we will continue to have these periodic emergence of warlords and rabble  rousers  to create chaos  for their selfish benefits.  Whoever denies that there is great mistrust and gulf in the country today amongst it's constituent units must be a liar.  Then the begging  question is how do we remodel,  restructure and recast the governance,  fiscal,  political and socioeconomic architecture of this country for an all inclusive growth and  development  for the overall benefits of all the Stakeholders under an atmosphere of peace,  justice,  equity,  fairness and healthy competition? .

My daily prayer is that God should continually help us to raise the critical number/mass of selfless,  honest,  creative and compassionate Nigerians,  cutting across  all the constituent units of Nigeria that will put the collective interests of the masses over and above  clannish,  sectional and primordial interests that serves only a few.