Gaddafi first caught my attention some years back when he came up with the very laughable idea of creating a United States of Africa, with him as the chair. He actually believed we all would forget about our religious, ethnic and tribal differences and just collapse ourselves into a United States of Africa with an Arab Colonel as Head! Wonder what he was drinking when he thought that up!
Seriously now Gaddafi may be really good at grandstanding and all but was he really saying gibberish when he said Nigeria was better off divided along religious lines? Lots of people were quick to dismiss everything he said bearing in mind some of his past advice like the funny one about dividing Switzerland into three parts and dashing a part each to the Germans, Italians and French. Nigeria's Senate President, David Mark called Gaddafi a mad man! Does dividing Nigeria equally through the centre, north and south really sound mad?
If you were just a loose observer of Nigeria or Nigerian politics; standing afar and looking in from a distance, splitting Nigeria along religious lines would be the best solution to all the violence we're currently facing. It would make perfect sense to someone from afar who puts on his TV everyday and hears tales about how Christians and Muslims are killing themselves in cold blood. Why not just seperate them. Wouldn't that make perfect sense? Wouldn't it be perfectly logical!
There's lots more going down in Nigeria than the Muslim/Christian thing. That's just the way the world has chosen to understand what Nigeria's problem really is, that's how foreigners have chosen to understand why every single day we hear reports of violence and death in Nigeria. Religion? That's the least of Nigeria's problems. Lets even give thought to Gaddafi's suggestion and assume someone someday would have the guts to order the split of the country into different halves, the Muslims to the North and Christians to the South. Then the Problem with Jos is settled and no more religious violence in Nigeria. Is it really that simple? Would that really stop people from killing themselves with the slightest provocation. I Don't think so!
The truth is even if Nigeria is split along religious, ethnic or tribal lines with the Yoruba speaking people of the west, Ibo speaking people of the East and the Hausa speakers in the north allowed to rule themselves, would that bring an end to the violence and bloodshed?
One very sincere and human truth we often shy away from is that people are always going to exploit the slightest difference between other people to their advantage. We're all black African people for christ sake! Why can't we just get along?
Nigeria is too big? Ok lets split it! Igbos go your way. Yorubas go your way and Hausas too. Problem solved? Guess again! A few years down the road, the Ijebu people in Yoruba country or Yoruba republic start talking about being marginalised and say they want their own country. The Oyo people in the North of Yoruba republic say no way and then violence erupts again. Same with the Hausa in the north and the Igbos. So are we going to continue splitting and splitting and splitting till everyone is a government to himself? Is that really the solution to our problems?
Everyone keeps saying the British made a very big mistake in 1914, forcing totally different people into a union they didn't want. Is that really true? Is Nigeria a mistake?
Singapore gained independence from Britain around the same time as Nigeria. They have a population that is as diverse, or even more diverse than that of Nigeria. Instead of having different tribes or ethnic groups like in other countries, theirs is a mixture of Races. Chinese, Indians, Malays all cramped into a tiny space the size of Lagos. The Singapore economy in 2006 was rated the World's most Globalised Economy! A country the size of Lagos, packed full of people of different Races (not tribes), Chinese, indians, malays all dumped and abandoned for nothing by the British in 1963 has become the most Globalised Economy in the world Today. Was Singapore a British mistake too? While the Chinese, Indians and Malays of Singapore were busy charting the course of their destiny after independence, the Yorubas, Ibos and Hausas in Nigeria were even busier sharing looted funds and killing themselves over petty issues, issues as petty as religion! To add insult to injury, we're all black people. No notable physical differences between us compared to the Singaporeans who have Chinese, Indian and Malay people. Buddhists, Muslims and Christians all in Singapore. If Nigeria was a mistake by the British then Singapore must have been an even bigger mistake. What were the British thinking, cramping people of such diverse races into a tiny island with little or no resources?
I remember reading the autobiography of the First Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, narrating his country's story from the time of British colonial rule to recent times. How he was able to inspire is countrymen to look beyond their difference and fight their common enemies, poverty, insecurity and unemployment.
Nigerias' problem is not religion or ethnicity or tribalism. We have simply failed to identify who our real enemies are. Poverty, insecurity, unemployment. These are our real enemies. Not Muslims or Christians or Hausa people or Ibo people or Yoruba people. We need to know who or what our real enemies are as a country, as a people. That's the only way we're ever going to forge ahead as a Nation. Nigeria has the largest market in Africa. Very mobile and innovative youth, an abundance of Minerals, Plenty of fertile Land, and people still say the British were mistaken in lumping us all together? The British left Singaporeans on their own with nothing! No mineral resources or whatever. Absolutely nothing!
Gaddafi's theory on Nigeria may sound very wise on paper and to foreigners or outsiders but the truth still remains that Nigeria is way bigger than religion or ethnicity or tribalism. What we need is sincerity and honesty in identifying our real enemies. Poverty, Insecurity, Unemployment, Ineffective leadership. Lets know who our real enemies are and muster the will and courage to engage them in a fight for liberation. Liberation not from ourselves and our collective values and traditions, not from our diversity and our collective heritage. but from those things that threaten to tear us apart.
That is my Nigerian theory.......
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