It is another Friday. Ordinarily, I should be thinking of lighter matters. But No. And indeed for some strange reasons, my mind is on that famous international civil servant – Emeka Anyaoku, or better still, Eye of Fire, for those who are conversant with the Igbo language.
The gentleman, to use a tired phrase, really needs no introduction. Almost everyone knows that he is in the twilight of his life. Few will deny that he has had an illustrious career. This was mainly in the world of diplomacy where he served as the first black man at the very pinnacle of the Commonwealth Secretariat as Secretary-General.
Meanwhile, such is his cosmopolitan and urbane outlook that, when it came to matters of the heart, the former Commonwealth scribe and foreign minister of Nigeria went beyond his primordial realms. This was in view of the fact that, the man from Obosi in Eastern Nigeria is married to an Egba woman from the Western region of Nigeria. In view of what has been said thus far, when an Emeka Anyaoku speaks, it is time to listen.
Therefore, when Anyaoku spoke to the fact that Nigeria was descending into an abyss of irrelevance, any concerned Nigerian must view this diplomat’s words with concern.
For, let us face it, apart from being a detribalised senior citizen, our man is also steeped in the world of diplomacy, whose hallmark is subtlety. So for the elder statesman to have openly and loudly declared that Nigeria was on the verge of irrelevance, then there is the need to take the issue seriously.
Indeed, one is tempted to ask where is the evidence. Unfortunately, the evidence continues to stare us in the face. It is so palpable. The various indices of anomy, which threaten to undefine the Nigerian state are all over the place. For perhaps the first time in living memory and indeed since the civil war, the unravelling of Nigeria continues to torment those who love this country.
This unravelling, which was in the past almost muted and indeed sacrilegious, has now become the new mantra. These days, all that we hear with gusto are the fulminations and passionate cries of the subnational merchants. Words, phrases and names like Sunday Igboho, Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB, Odua Nation, Arewa, Niger Delta militants, are the new cries.
Read also: IGP tells Delta Command to brace up to IPOB challenge
The point to note here is that all these separatist cries are being enacted on a platform of context. It is a disturbing context in which, rightly or wrongly, some sections of the country have been made to believe that they do not belong in the country. The tragedy however is that and for those who know, particularly those who pay attention to the currents of history, this indeed is an old road.
We have been here before. Then in the seventies, Nigeria as we know it nearly collapsed. Could it be that like the famous Bourbon kings of old we have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing? As it were, the current status quo forces in Nigeria could well have contributed substantially to this emergent and inclement scenario.
For some of us, what continues to unfold is a personal tragedy. It is personal in the sense that some of us were raised to believe that Nigeria is a given. That the various components are mere building blocks that have gone into the building of an authentic reality called Nigeria. But then, sometimes as in this case, reality has a way of dissolving into illusions. These illusions are being concretely expressed by the various ethnic groups.
Luckily for us, however, there are still a few and redeeming voices that continue to speak in a convincing way to the existence and reality of Nigeria. Unfortunately, such voices which should be in the mainstream are really on the fringe. There is also the suspicion that the vicissitudes of Anyaoku’s personal career could well have also inspired him to speak out from this depths of despair.
On this note, many have probably forgotten that Anyaoku virtually passed through hellfire during his time as the Commonwealth scribe. For those who can remember, those were the Abacha years. At that point in time, the country also had to contend with the inclement halo of irrelevance. Again, for those who can remember, it was not just irrelevance, there was also the added factor of a situation in which the country virtually acquired the non-flattering status of a pariah.
Unfortunately, this situation came vividly to Anyaoku in very personal terms. Here he was, as scribe of the Commonwealth and in the light of the judicial murder of Ken Saro Wiwa, Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth.
The reader is invited here to take a closer look at this awkward situation. Here was an Emeka Anyaoku, presiding over a vast bureaucratic organ like the Commonwealth Secretariat and yet his country had fallen foul of the basic governance norms and as such had to be suspended from the organisation. In stark terms, his job was on the line. His very relevance was also in question as head of the Organisation. It does not take much to appreciate that these must have been very trying times for this gentleman.
This trauma could well be partly responsible for why he has had cause to voice out his concern that our dear country may well be treading an old path in the light of its increasing irrelevance in the international system. This irrelevance can be seen in various forms. It largely stems from the deep fissures and cleavages which continue to assail the Nigerian State.
What is also oddly interesting is that in earlier times when Nigeria was having a hard time abroad, the country was under a military dispensation. This time around and under a civilian dispensation we are still having a hard time in which our showing in the world can be viewed in very unflattering terms. For this beleaguered country, it is something of a Hobson’s choices.
