ARE WE REALLY ONE COUNTRY?

ARE WE REALLY ONE COUNTRY?

Boko Haram have taken over the town of Gwoza, killed the Emir and declared the place an islamic state. They have seceded from Nigeria and they are beheading Christians and southerners and all moderate northern muslims that do not share their views.

I wonder what would have happened if it had been a town in the south-east that had been taken over in this way by a group of igbo nationalists and christian fundamentalists.

I wonder what would have happened if they killed the local Traditional Ruler and then started to kill every northerner, every muslim and every moderate christian in that town that did not share their views. I wonder what Nigeria would have done to them if it was an igbo town that declared secession in this way and not a northern one.

I wonder how our northern brothers would have reacted to this and how they would have felt if any southern terrorist group had as it's main objective the wiping out of islam and all muslims in Nigeria and the establishment of a christian fundamentalist state in the whole of the south that is governed by Old Testament christian canon law.

I wonder if our northern brothers would be as calm, as forgiving and as patient as we in the south have been about the atrocities of Boko Haram.

The last time that a part of this country attempted to secede we slaughtered and starved to death over two million igbos in order to keep Nigeria one. Yet today Gwoza has been taken over by murderous secessionist forces and we act as if it is no big deal.

The truth is that this is a nation of double standards where southerners are subject to a different set of conventions, laws, rules and regulations when compared to northerners.

Northerners can get away with secession and establishing an islamic fundamentalist state and new caliphate whilst southerners dare not try to do the same sort of thing.

This begs the question: is Nigeria really one country and are we really one people. And even if we say it is one country and we are one people, how much longer can this remain so given what is going on in the north today with Boko Haram?

Some northerners have said that if power does not return to the north next year they will smash up Nigeria and make the south pay dearly. They believe that they own Nigeria and that they were born to rule.

How are we as southerners supposed to react to this? Are we supposed to accept it sheepishly and just bow down and surrender? Does a southerner from the Niger Delta not have a right to serve two terms in office as President of Nigeria?

Are southerners and Middle Belters not human beings? Are they nothing but slaves to the core muslim north? Are the issues that Ojukwu raised in 1967 not still relevant today?

Is it not of paramount importance that we restructure this country and devolve power from the centre before we all kill ourselves? Is Nigeria not meant to be a secular state where each and every religion, nationality and tribe are regarded as being equal, regardless of their size, strength or number?

Should the minority ethnic nationalities not be protected from the excesses of the majority ones? If the basic principle of equality of all faiths, creed, nationalities and equal opportunities for all is violated must Nigeria remain one?

Should we tolerate the practice and institutionalisation of apartheid in our fatherland twenty four years after contributing so much in helping to bring it to an end in South Africa?

When the so-called Northern Elders tell the President that if he does not produce the Chibok girls alive at the soonest he should forget his re-election bid in 2015, what does that mean?

Do they not appreciate the fact that this is nothing but cheap blackmail and that it reinforces the suspicion that Boko Haram is just a tool in the hands of the core north to ensure that the President is intimidated and that the country is brought to it's knees unless and until power is returned to the core muslim north?

Do the core northerners themselves understand that this can result in a terrible reaction from the rest of the country against them and that they may end up losing everything that they have gained and benefited from Nigeria in the last 54 years?

How much longer do we have to put up with this sort of thing? For how long do we have to put up with these threats and this assumption that we are second class citizens in our own nation? How much longer do we have to shy away from asking the same question that others asked many years ago, namely, is Nigerian really one country?

Are we a nation or a mere geographical expression? Has anything changed since Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Leader of the Yoruba, asked that question as far back as 1947 in his book titled ''Paths To Nigerian Freedom?''

Is ''self-determination'' with it's inherent quest for freedom a dirty word? Is it not a perfectly natural, legitimate, equitable and lawful aspiration which has the full backing of international law. Do people not have a right to determine what their future will be and whether that future will be spent as Nigerians or as non-Nigerians?

Surely It is time for us to answer these difficult questions even though we keep brushing these matters under the carpet. It is time for us to either answer the Nationality Question once and for all or begin to prepare for the break up of this great country into two, three or perhaps even more pieces.

It happened in India, Malaya, the Sudan, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and in many other countries and it is in the process of happening in the United Kingdom today with the upcoming referendum on independence in Scotland. If that is the only thing that will bring peace, stability and lasting progress why should Nigeria be any different?