The Solemnity of a United Nigeria.

Where there is unity there is always victory. – Publilius Syrus

The now so fashionable call for the division of Nigeria by a section of the country, attributed by them to the upsurge of bombing and gun attacks by the Boko Haram terrorist group on the North, is in my opinion a validation that jumping on the bandwagon is way more dangerous than rumor mongering.

All over the place, mostly on Social media, the misconception and “maldirection” of opinions has become most evident. Many have caught on with the “Nigeria must break up” mantra without actually understanding why or making an attempt to actually figure out if there is really any meat behind the clamor.

Let us now make a sincere attempt to analyze the activities of Boko Haram in the North, in relation to the cry for secession. Let us also look into recent history to see the things that led to break ups in countries like Sudan/ South Sudan and India/ Pakistan. These are some of the countries that many of the proponents of the division have being pointing at to back their claims.

The Boko Haram terrorist group has, from their very first national appearance in 2009, kept their operations solely in the Northern part of Nigeria. Even in their reincarnation as a blood thirsty band of arsonists and marauders, they have hit only locations in the core North and Abuja. They have consistently hit government and religious institutions (both Muslim and Christian). Over 80% of their victims have been Northerners, members of the armed forces and security agencies. Many say they have targeted Southerners living in the North particularly. That is not true as there is no evidence to back that.

So why then are certain people asking that Nigeria be divide and broken up along North/South lines because of Boko Haram’s activities. Are these people making these demands because they don’t want what is befalling the North right now to swing to them when Boko Haram somehow runs out of Northern targets? Or these people are making these division demands because Boko Haram has offered them an opportunity to push their agenda in the face of the confusion, panic, and fear that the new wave of terrorism has brought upon our land?

I am yet to see the connection between Boko Haram’s insurgency in the North and the threat to Nigeria’s unity. A country can’t just break up because a group of people have gone up in arms against the nation as a unit.

Let us look at examples of countries that have split in recent history and see if their circumstances have any semblance with ours.

Sudan/ Southern Sudan

In January 2011, Sudan held a referendum in which people of the Southern voted overwhelmingly for separation. The reasons for this popular breakup were solely due to the difference in religious beliefs and bullying. The people of the South are predominantly Christians or Traditionalists, but successive governments controlled by the North of Sudan, due to their control of the military and population, decided to enforce Sharia Law on the whole nation. This led to a Southern rebellion which culminated in the negotiated split. Let me emphasis, an attempt by the North of Sudan to force religion down the throat of the South led to a need to split, so that the Muslims in the North can have their way with Sharia and other Sudanese in the South can have their secularity. There was a clear case of oppression here. That is not the case in Nigeria.

India/ Pakistan

Once again, religion plays up ugly here. India and Pakistan became 2 separate countries because the Muslims of Pakistan and the Hindus of India just couldn’t stand each other in the long run. The Hindus went their way and the Muslims kept their own peace. The division was done cleanly, Muslims separate, Hindus separate. Is that possible in Nigeria? Are the Muslims of Southern extraction (we even have Igbos who are Muslim) a threat to the corporate existence of Nigeria? Is the vast majority of the Muslims from the North (minus Boko Haram) a threat to Nigeria? My humble answer is a resounding No!

The foregone raises a few questions as to the motives and expected outcomes of the ongoing murmur for a Nigerian breakup:

1. Does a lack of development and an overwhelming prevalence of systemic corruption a result of the country existing along North/South lines?
2.  Is this call for a breakup along North/ South lines a first step towards Nigeria breaking up into fiefdoms and tiny pieces? The South-South is already making veiled threats of seceding too.
3. Can anyone really point at a direct correlation between Boko Haram’s activities and a threat to Nigeria’s Unity, considering the fact that Boko Haram has not taken their dastardly acts beyond the North of Nigeria and hasn’t particularly stated that they are out to kill non-Northerners?
4. Shouldn’t we rather than ask for a break up of Nigeria show sympathy to the masses of the North who have somewhat become used to bereavement in the face of the activities of a group that says it is fighting the Islamic cause but has being killing adherents of the religion, both the congregation and the clergy?
5. Shouldn’t we instead hold the government of the day responsible for the sudden insecurity of lives and property, for the sudden realization that our lives and reputation as a people have been changed from how we used to know it?
6. Now that MEND, a South-South armed group, has come back to the business of terrorism, should another section of the country begin to ask that whatever is left of Nigeria break away from the Niger Delta?

Questions upon questions that we, as an educated, enlightened, and unbigoted people, should ask ourselves and provide answers to. Nigeria is stronger as a unit, where all the constituent ethnic groups come together and chart a course that will lead us all to a common good. We have all intermarried, we have forged solid friendships that have stood the test of time, we do business with each other, neither religion nor tribe has come in our way even now. We shouldn’t allow subtle calls from elements of discord cloud our God given abilities to make sound, informed judgments, we shouldn’t allow these elements to hoodwink us into believing our neighbors have plans to destroy us, we shouldn’t allow politicians, who have continued to collectively sodomize us push us any further into turning Xenophobes. We shouldn’t let the antics of a few who have been trying to play on our emotions and sentiments defeat our humanity. It isn’t a case of friction between Northerners and Southerners, but a war between us the people and the few who have continued to do everything within their Political and Financial powers to keep us subjected to them. We shouldn’t be conduits for their whims; we shouldn’t be a voice to their evil plots. We owe this to ourselves and our unborn children.

May God help us all.