Opinion: The fallacy of enforcing national unity

by Ugochukwu Amasike
The threat of violence and force of arms can not guarantee or enforce Nigeria’s fragile “unity” forever. It is an exercise in futility to attempt to do so; the very idea of a “forced or enforced unity” is unnatural, even animals are not forced to live in unity. It has been almost half a century since the first question of Nigeria’s unity was asked, and yet the question is still being asked today by a way larger segment of people, across the Nigerian Federation; that should tell us and our leadership something.
The violent challenges to the authority of the Government and the violent contest with the Nigerian state over territory by different ethnic-actors is indicative of a fundamental and underlying problem with our system, one that the gun can not and will never solve. It may suppress it for a while, but it will rear it’s head again and perhaps with more devastating consequences for the polity.
It is submitted to that for there to be sustainable unity, there must be a voluntary buy-in by all Nigerians into #ProjectNigeria. The Nigerian people must ‘own’ Nigeria and see its unity as their business, not as an imposition, because for as long as the idea of being “Nigerian” continues to be seen as an imposition of either colonial taskmasters or their military dictatorship heirs, there will always be disillusionment and revolt.
This is because it is not in the nature of free and independent men to gleefully accept an imposition or a forced union, or service to a cause or person they do not believe in. It is the very antithesis of being human. Thus to insist that the free men and women that make up the entity known as Nigeria can not decide their destinies is inhuman and repugnant to natural justice.
If the current President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration wants national Unity, then it can not “force it” or “enforce it”, it must seek to build it, and to build unity, there has to be dialogue and the correction of flaws and inequities in the system that has given rise to the agitations for a re-negotiation of the status quo.
The Federal Government can not enforce what does not exist. Our disunity manifests itself in almost every facet of our national life, it is in the schools, in the public institutions, even in a molue bus. It is every where and some have alleged that it manifests itself even in the appointments made by the President of Nigeria.
It is in this context that Mr President is humbly invited to undertake a little introspection and consider, if the allegations of prebendalism levelled against him vis a vis the “nationalistic character” of his appointments is helping build and foster unity in Nigeria.
Whilst appreciative of Mr President’s desire to work with ‘those he knows’ and his burning desire to reward the trust and loyalty Northern Nigeria voters gave him, Mr President is humbly enjoined to remember that there is way more at stake. His desire to reward voters is not in any way advancing social cohesion, it is rather damaging it severely and has sadly become a needless distraction from the real business of governance.
It is noteworthy that the allegations of prebendalism levelled against the President has not been limited to southern commentators, as there have been allegations of discrimination levelled against the President by elements within the President’s home region of Northern Nigeria; with the Northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), recently accusing the President of a pro muslim-North bias in his Northern appointments.
It is humbly suggested that if we are to build unity, then the symbol of the Nigerian state, which is largely the President, must always be seen to be Nationalistic and devoid of primitive primordial sentiments and loyalties. He must manifestly be seen to be a “Nigerian President” and not a Fulani President, this would be a good first step towards building national unity.
Furthermore for national unity to be built and sustained then the inequities in the current Nigerian political-economic system which have given rise to the separatist agitations and calls for review should be addressed and corrected via dialogue and negotiations, amongst the different ethnic groups that make up Nigeria; this is what the 2014 National Conference Report seeks to achieve.
Nigeria is no colony, no monarchy, and certainly no Slave Plantation, there are no slaves or serfs here, only free men and women and they are allowed by the laws of God and nature to sit down to discuss and determine their shared destiny, without the threat of murder or summary execution.
Thus, whilst the unity of Nigeria may be “sacrosanct”, the terms and conditions of that unity is very negotiable, and if we are to have real and sustainable unity, peace, and economic development, then we must in fact sit down and determine the basis upon which we will march forward into the next 100 years of our national existence. Our last 100 years together was dotted with mass-murder, dictatorships, ethno-religious violence, massive corruption and a civil war, our next 100 years can not be the same and only honest dialogue can ensure that.
The right to free speech and dialogue should not be considered an assault on the State in a democracy. It is trite that every structure and system periodically requires review, the methodology for such a review may differ from clime to clime, but there must always be a review-mechanism for the correction of identified errors and the updating of out-dated or corrupt systems that perpetuate injustice and inequality like ours.
The time to review our system and implement the report of the 2014 National Conference Report has come. The fierce urgency of a just and equitable restructuring of the Federation can no longer be ignored, I pray that God will direct our noble path as we set about charting a new and excellent course for our union and for our lives.
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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Ugochukwu Amasike is a lawyer based in Lagos State and can be reached via [email protected]

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