The latest cash phrases in Nigerian lexicon today are hate speech, Biafra and restructuring.The Biafra agitations by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), took another dimension of recent when the federal government proscribed the group after labeling it a terrorist organization.
On the other hand, the call for restructuring has become louder than ever. These have led to hate speeches by Nigerians across ethnic and political divide in the country, leading to civil unrest in some areas and tension all over the country.
Many saw October 1 , the Independence Day, as an opportunity for President Muhammadu Buhari to calm frayed nerves by reassuring all in a subtle manner that all would be well, while laying emphasis on things that could bind the people together as a nation. Instead, the president, according to most pundits, was not able to galvanize Nigerians across the divide.
The October 1 , speech further exposed the deep divisions in Nigeria, especially along ethnic lines. While most groups from the Northern parts hailed Buhari’s speech, Nigerians from the Southern parts, particularly the South East, felt disgusted by most of what the president said.
He reminded everyone of his role in making sure that Nigeria did not break-up during the civil war. This did not go down well with people from the South East who viewed that statement as an indirect threat to those agitating for the actualization of the Biafra.
Buhari had in the broadcast said: “As a young army officer, I took part from the beginning to the end in our tragic civil war costing about 2m lives, resulting in fearful destruction and untold suffering. Those who are agitating for a re-run were not born by 1967 and have no idea of the horrendous consequences of the civil conflict which we went through,” he said.
In a statement, which made it obvious that the president believes leaders of the South East are in support of secession, he said: “I am very disappointed that responsible leaders of these communities do not warn their hot-headed youths what the country went through. Those who were there should tell those who were not there, the consequences of such folly.”
A Nigerian youth Yinka Lawal, who said he voted for Buhari in 2015 was disappointed in his speech. Speaking with The Next Edition, he said, “The president’s speech was uninspiring. What better day to inspire Nigerians than the date we gained our independence? To be honest, as a patriotic Nigerian, I was not happy with his speech, which further divided us as a nation. Let’s not forget in a hurry that it was his 97 per cent to five per cent statement that facilitated some of these agitations today.”
According to a former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, one of the main reasons for agitations across the country is that the president ignored federal character principle in making political appointments. He also claims Buhari is trying to frustrate the South-East out of Nigeria. “Buhari is the engineer of the problems. He is trying to push the South-East out of Nigeria by marginalising, dehumanising and humiliating them,” he said, adding that the agitation for Biafra has now become a national problem, “The young ones couldn’t understand what he was up to and so they reacted as young people.”
Continuing Ezeife said “We didn’t have these problems under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua or Goodluck Jonathan, but immediately Buhari took the oath of office and swore to protect the Constitution, he reneged on such things as the federal character. He told us he belongs to everybody and to nobody but we have seen that he belongs to Katsina.”
Activist lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome in a similar vein, believed the president displayed his hatred for the people of the South East in his speech and failed to carry everyone along. “The entire National day broadcast by Buhari on the occasion of Nigeria’s 57th independence is quite disappointing in all ramifications,”
“It was very un-presidential and un-reconciliatory. The president left the real issues and pursued trifles. The speech was bereft of nobility of statesmanship, and devoid of a calm grasp and appraisals of the dire straits Nigeria is currently in.
“The broadcast was rabidly narcissist, parochial, nepotic and clannish, as it failed to see anything wrong with the blatant and well reported threats by the Arewa youths to quit fellow Nigerians from their domains. The speech followed his now well worn out fixation of perceived hatred for the Igbo race,” Ozekhome said.
A second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Muhammed who is a critic of most of President Muhammadu Buhari’s actions, berated him for making an uninspiring speech, which failed to galvanize Nigerians. He noted that the speech was an opportunity for Buhari to “mobilize and regain the confidence of the people.”
Junaid said, while speaking to the press, “Frankly speaking, the speech is not realistic. There is nothing and there was nothing meant to be spectacular or unique about the speech of the 57th anniversary.
“It is celebratory. Where we have a leader who is articulate or is in a firm control of the government, the speech could have been an avenue to mobilise and regain the confidence of the people.
“As far as I am concerned, there is nothing in the speech to energise, galvanise or persuade me,” he pointed out.
However, the president’s speech appealed to a section of the country and a few of his political supporters like Comrade Adams Oshiomole.
The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF “the President’s speech is soothing and was the way to go.” The ACF reacting through its Publicity Secretary, Muhammadu Ibrahim Biu, said the speech was “a score card of the Buhari administration on security, economy and corruption, which was the hallmark of his campaign promises. “ACF advocates peaceful and meaningful dialogue on all issues of national importance and the use of our democratic institutions to achieve better results. Agitations that come with threats and intimidation have no place in our present democratic dispensation. ACF would, therefore, support any restructuring that comes with clarity of purpose and is just, fair and equitable to all sections of the country,” he said.
Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, on the other hand, speaking on behalf of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, is of the view that restructuring is the only solution to the current problem bedeviling the country. He said: “The only way Nigeria will not disintegrate under him (Buhari) is for him to begin to lead the conversations around the need to restore Nigeria to better federalism as promised in the APC manifesto. “He still has the opportunity to bring Nigeria back on track. The call for restructuring is the call for a better Nigeria, the call for restructuring is to avoid a break-up,” he advised.
However, the point that needs to be made is that Nigeria requires peace to achieve what various interest groups are demanding for.
