One of the very important values accepted by most people and nations in the world today is the equality of all men. The idea presupposes that everyone is born equal and should be treated as such regardless of racial, ethnic, religious and cultural differences. The Nigerian Constitution, the Charters of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) support this value of equality of all men. In fact, equality of persons is one of the very important principles of democracy. Any government that respects democracy must recognize equality of all men in its Constitution.
But despite constitutional provisions for equality in our country, we are confronted with dangerous tendency of mutual distrust and manipulation of our differences by powerful political and religious cum ethnic mongers. In truth, socio-economic and political inequality is a reality in Nigeria.
But the problem still hunts us in spite of various efforts to eradicate the problem, as evident in the creation and proliferation of states, ethnic “arithmetic”, ethnic balancing, federal character, NYSC scheme, Federal Unity Colleges, various formulas for revenue allocation, the policy of WAZOBIA, relocation of the Federal Capital, official and unofficial exhortations for national unity and interethnic tolerance and inter-faith groups.
It is important to understand that governments, leaders, or groups who manipulate the people have a reason for doing so. The reason is simple. Manipulators have something to hide. They want to cover the fact that they exist by exploiting and oppressing the people. So they pretend to be friends of some people. They pretend to be protecting the interests of groups to which they belong by race, ethnicity or religion while, in actual fact, they are only taking care of their selfish interests. By this manipulation, such governments and leaders want to break the unity of the entire people. They want to weaken the consciousness and opposition of the entire people to their bad government and bad leadership.
Since independence, various selfish leaders have manipulated our people by placing emphasis on our minor differences. For example, some have based their political campaigns on ethnicity, regionalism and religion. Today, religion has become a strong weapon used by selfish leaders to manipulate and divide the people. Their misuse of religion has severally led to ugly riots and loss of lives and property. But while in office, their performance, way of life and style of living belied their religious claims as they are more corrupt and perverted than Satan.
This devilish manipulation of our people through ethnic, religious and sectional differences has caused a lot of harm to our nation. It breaks the unity of our people and turns their attention away from the urgent and real matters of public interests. Consequently, terrible leaders commit various crimes with impunity. Furthermore, internal disunity caused by manipulation, prevents the people from playing a more prominent role in the development of the country.
It is time we recognized that the old saying, “unity is strength”, remains valid. It is only in unity that we can win the war for economic development, social progress and political emancipation. It is when we are united that the war against insurgency can be successfully fought and won. Trading blames further deepen our division and is counter-productive.
The Nigerian people must know that poverty, ignorance and disease which oppress us all today, do not recognize ethnic, language, religious or regional differences. Hunger does not know whether you are Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Longuda, Birom, Ogoja, Tiv, Gbagyi, Efik, Kanuri, Chip, Annang, Izon, Nupe, etc. Disease does not find out whether you are a Muslim, a Christian or an African religionist; just as hunger, poverty and ignorance do not care whether you come from North, South, East or West. Poverty, disease and ignorance attack affect us all. Therefore, we all need to shun artificial and counterproductive divisive tendencies. They would lead us to nowhere.
The people should protect national unity and rise up against leaders who want to manipulate them against one another. This is the time for our people to use religion and ethnic frontiers to promote development and stability. People should be educated about the importance of forming and joining popular associations, such as occupational and trade unions and clubs which cut across ethnic, language, religious and regional boundaries, so as to strengthen national identity and national unity. We should not allow any exploiter, foreign or Nigerian, to break this unity of experience and purpose.
This is the time for individuals and organisations with influence and means to educate everyone on the imperative of national unity, harmony and cohesion. Of what use is a poor Fulani herdsman killing a poor Hausa farmer? As we approach the much anticipated election year, Nigerians need to be thoroughly educated on the selfish tendencies of our elites to manipulate them for self centered objectives. We have been fooled for too long. Now is the time to ‘shine’ our eyes and refused to fooled again.
As previously stated, irrespective of religion, ethnic and other such parochial divides, what every Nigerian wants is good governance that provides the basic needs of life. We don’t need all these unnecessary agitations over religious and ethnic differences that serve only the interests of our oppressors. For us to move forward as a nation, we need to realise that the elites’ only preoccupation is the promotion of self-interest. It is only when such interests are being threatened that they resort to using the masses as canon fodders in their scheming ploy to corner national wealth. This is the time to reject all devices of evil manipulations and say no to all common foes.
Rasak Musbau
