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Monday 15 January 2018

Nigeria's Democracy And Its Crisis Deliberate, Avoidable; The Profound Story of Conquest and Power

         Nigeria's democracy now face a new Peril- The Fulani Herdsmen. Photo: Facebook

"For our future world to be liveable the heroes must win their struggle. But the villains have the guns and the money and to date they have usually prevailed . That will continue unless we radically change our approach"-Professor Sir, Paul Collier; The Bottom Billion; Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, Oxford University Press.

In the words of Peter Jay, 'a single chapter will not be enough to present a comprehensive chronicle of the events of any period'. Our aim here is to add our voice to the important conversations about the need to restructure Nigeria. The time is now. There is urgent need to' modernise and liberalise' the country for peaceful co-existence, stability and growth. We have written extensively in this regard.

Our collective experience so far is the 'profound story of greed and conquest' where a group of ruthless sharks with monopoly of violence hijacked the country's resources and polity for their personal gains. Anyone pointing out flaws in the system is tagged an enemy and is disloyal to the country's interests. They are not accountable to the citizens, neither are they subject to the laws of the land. They create division for support base,  resist modernity and bribe opinion leaders to endorse them. They impose their henchmen to destabilise other territories for political control and gains and provide them with support.  Today we are faced with a new peril- The Herdsmen..

According to Professor Wole Soyinka, It is happening all over again. History is repeating itself and alas within such an agonizingly short span of time.  How often must we warn against the enervating lure of appeasement in the face of aggression and will to dominate'' [Impunity Rides Again; The Guardian 11 January 2018].

We have argued that in a hetrogenous society, like Nigeria, 'extreme' centralisation of political control is detrimental to economic development. The only alternative is the restructuring of the country by moving power down to identity, thus respecting the culture and identity of regions to champion local development. States/Regions can only achieve development if they take their own destinies in their own hands including the protection of lives and properties of their citizens as events have now proved.

Unless we restructure the country, then we expect inevitable future of conflict.  We must reject any government that denies us restructuring because such government thrives on the 'lust for absolute power', benefits from our collective sufferings, and lacks idea about innovation that drives the 21st-century. We must resist any government policy that commits us to endless future of conflict and possible civil war.

We must decline the power holders using us to unleash impunity and ruthlessness even depriving us fundamental human rights. Now is the time to collectively call for the restructuring of the country.

Uche Okeke.

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