The tempo of secessionist agitation in the country heightened recently with the declaration by a motley group of activists claiming to be “leaders of Southern Nigeria and Middle Belt” that they “have set in motion modalities to extricate their people from the contraption called Nigeria.”
Led by Professor Banji Akintoye, this so-called “Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self -Determination” [NINASD] said there is injustice in the country and they want Nigeria to be split into many countries.
Before it, there has been the running agitation to revive the short-lived and ill-fated “Biafra Republic” in the Southeast.
This agitation, led by the now banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and its fugitive leader Nnamdi Kanu, took a violent dimension in recent times with attacks on security agents, security facilities and innocent natives of other parts of the country.
Even though NINASD leaders have discountenanced the use of violence to achieve their objectives, it is still unbecoming of men who are septuagenarians and octogenarians to lead agitations that are very likely to plunge the country into chaos. Especially so when they themselves were part of the elite that brought about the injustices in the first place.
These secessionist agitations have their roots in contradictions in the Nigerian state and its inability to resolve the existential challenges of the country. We have today insecurity in the form of insurgent terrorist activities in the Northeast, banditry and kidnapping in the Northwest, sectarian clashes in the North central and herders-farmers clashes in various parts of the country. High levels of poverty, chronic unemployment and harsh economic conditions in the country clearly underlie the frustration that fuels these agitations.
The inability of state institutions and political leaders so far to effectively tackle these problems has continued to provide fertile ground for demagogues to cash in on the situation and prescribe their secessionist formula as the solution. Many groups also took advantage of the situation and resorted to self-help in order to fill the void left by state actors.
While activities of both criminals and violent self-help groups are an affront to law and order, secessionist agitations are treasonable in nature and constitute a clear and present danger to the unity and survival of the nation as a whole.
Secessionist groups try to justify their actions on the basis of seeking freedom and self-determination for the areas which they purport to represent, but they lack the mandate or the credentials to make such treasonable agitations. Considering that the areas they claim to represent are adequately represented at local, state and federal levels as constitutionally required, their agitations lack legitimacy.
Accordingly, we advise that they channel whatever grievances they may have through the elected representatives of their areas as required by law and the constitution. Secessionist agitation in response to problems of the moment is short-sighted, bereft of wisdom, ignorant of national and African experience, illegal, treasonable and ultimately destructive and ruinous for all.
