The General Consensus of the South and the Middlebelt -By J. Ezike

“Today, the old men in the South talk about restructuring, they talk about devolution, about equity and that’s fair enough. But let me tell you something and this is the bitter truth: the younger men particularly in the south are not talking about that anymore. They are now talking about the right to self-determination, about the right to live in peace, about dignity, honor and a sense of history.” Chief Femi Fani Kayode

“God has a reason for making the South a minority.” Senator Mohammed Ndume

Thinking back over the speech by Chief Femi Fani Kayode at a convocation organized by the Haske Foundation, I could have sworn that he, on the podium where he stood, personified “Conscience and Truth” which are almost the unseen attributes in the modern character of the privileged Nigerian. And I think that the politics of his language was genuine and pure but too civilized, too hallowed to win the support of the pretentious assembly along with its towering hypocrites of the North.

It is one thing to proffer a powerful speech and it is another thing to weigh the reception of that speech. This is where “psychology” comes into play. And I think this was the most disturbing fact that was poorly buried in the mannerism and in the silence of the audience. I mean, the fact that his speech which was in essence the “soul expression” of the Southern Nigeria, did not share the same interest of the Core North. And when we study the reception, the attitude of the assembly towards that speech, we get the impression that we are reading the hieroglyphs of the Sokoto Caliphate.

When I watched Chief Fani Kayode speak at the convocation, when I paid attention to his honest convictions, I could see a man who had so much truth in his soul – a truth barely cooperative with the general consensus of the Core North. A truth endowed with the full aspirations of an erected Manhood and looking to follow up with a holy penetration into the Mindhood of a decayed contraption, that all that were once barren would give in to the “Force of Life.” And from a biological standpoint, it is depressing to state here that; though the erection, the penetration and the Force of Life were present in the assembly, the Mindhood itself was barren which made the whole exercise fruitless, absolutely futile!

If we as psychologists, as thinkers, as reformers, as statesmen, as freedom-fighters were to construct that “Force of Life” it would be a mass cry which suddenly acquired a soul and now residing in the body of what is called Self-determination.

From a philosophical standpoint, if we like the Mystics must conjure the “Force of Life” into the emptiness of what was once flesh, into the last vestige of death, into the debris of mortality, then we must do so through the acquisition of the “soul” that represents the “mass cry” in order to grant mortality to the “skeleton” by the “body” known as Self-determination. For indeed, Self-determination cannot be wished away. And politicians like Senator Mohammed Ndume, who fear that Nigeria is headed towards total collapse, should quit the self-denial and admit the unceasing stench of its decayed corpse degenerating into the full statue of a skeleton!

The old men of the South, mostly the privileged Nigerians and the conservative politicians powered by greed and selfish aspirations can preach the vintage gospel of restructuring from now till the dawn of Rapture but it is apt to lack the sparkle and impact of a potent Star. For the darkness that commands the sky of Unitary Nigeria will retreat only by the intervention of light. And that light isn’t found in the series of phony National Conferences or constitutional amendments or reviews but rather in the political dialogue on the religious and cultural contradictions between the Caliphate North versus the Middlebelt and the South. A political dialogue that would correct the blunder of 1914 and prevent the repetition of 1967. A political dialogue that must be accompanied by tolerance to accept the right of the people to Self-determination.

For one thing, it has become increasingly necessary that the South which the North suppressed and continues to suppress without pretense must find their feet to walk on the wild road of survival, to have their horns locked in battle with the fate that makes them to genuflect slavishly in the direction of the Caliphate North. And this is the argument of the younger men in the South who do not accept that the supremacy of the Fulani in Unitary Nigeria has the blessings of the Divine!

In an illustration towards political appeal and in defense of injustice, Senator Mohammed Ndume positioned the South of any region as the bitch of the North. Therefore, in his thinking, the North is justified in the prostitution of human and natural assets in the South. The North is justified in the persecution of the Igbo people of Biafra, in the conversion of their lands into a vast morgue, in the desecration of their territories into an atmosphere that could depress even a stray dog in Onitsha. The North is justified in the carnage of Southern civilians, in the damnation of the destinies of Non-Muslims through the exalted jihad that drives home the hegemonic ideals of the Sokoto Caliphate. The North is justified in the orgy of blood, in the extrajudicial execution and arrest of activists and in the slaughtering of women, children and unarmed civilians in the Middlebelt and in the geopolitical entity known as Biafra. The North is justified in the decimation and depopulation of the Christian South for the amusement of their mean gods. And this feudal mentality is the reason why Nigeria’s corpse, its skeleton is fated for a violent burial!

But I am grateful to the Wisdom of Chief Fani Kayode that stood out in the assembly and gave Senator Ndume’s primitive thoughts the caricature, the scorn and the disdain it truly deserves. And I too agree with the Oduduwa statesman that “evil always has an expiry date and this one too (Nigeria) shall pass.”

In conclusion: The general consensus of the South and the Middlebelt is that Self-determination is the only option. This is the voice of the civilized people, this is the voice of the majority and this is the voice of God!