Those who read the signs in Nigeria do not exactly know what to make of President Muhammadu Buhari`s recent nostalgia at the one million people who he said were killed to keep Nigeria together.
Given the subtle semiotics the current administration has perfected under President Muhammadu Buhari, it is not exactly clear whether the reference to the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70 was a genuine attempt at addressing one of Nigeria`s sorest points or rather an attempt to reopen old wounds.
While receiving former state chairmen of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, at State House, Buhari allegedly said that the self-centeredness that led to the loss of about a million lives between 1967 to 1970 must not be allowed to repeat itself.
The wounds that would not heal
On July 6,1967, Nigeria cascaded into a cataclysmic civil war. At the center of historic hostilities which soon became as bloody as they came was ethnic tension, and not a little exuberance by two young military officers.
On the one side of the hostilities of historic proportions was Nigeria, then led by a 33-year-old Yakubu Gowon. On the other side was the Republic of Biafra whose attempt to secede from Nigeria was spearheaded by a 34-year-old Odumegwu Ojukwu.
If in just over six years of Nigeria`s independence, a conflict of such epic proportions had become inevitable, then it was because there had been a failure of political as well as moral authority. Not a few consciences had died within this time too.
In the harrowing thirty months that followed, the corpses piled up, especially on the side of Biafra, as Yakubu Gowon was more than happy to kill a fly with a sledgehammer. Even till this day, the anguished cries of the children who succumbed to starvation on the Biafran front as Nigeria adopted scorched earth tactics continue to haunt Nigeria .The children that perished during the war form majority of Muhammadu Buhari`s one million dead.
Perhaps, they find some reflection in the turning of the tables which locate many of the 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria in the North.
When the President spoke, it was to reiterate there solution that never again would blood be allowed to flood Nigeria. He was also speaking to the need to keep Nigeria one, united and indivisible, undisturbed by the self-centeredness of a few. Very lofty goals indeed! But having had seven years in government as the president of Nigeria, how much has his administration done?
Bloodshed may not be happening in Nigeria on the horrific scale witnessed during those bloody years of the Nigeria Civil War, however, a trickle here and there has continued to pull into a pool.
Maybe, one million people are yet to be killed since the President came into power but how much longer do we have until we reach that grim milestone?
Since the president was sworn in in 2015, just how many people have been killed under his watch in Borno, Kaduna, Zamfara, Benue and Niger States and across the country?
How much has his government done to keep the country together? Beyond wildly desperate attempts to gag Nigerians, has his administration been mindful of watching the words and conduct of those who form it to ensure that they neither exclude nor abandon hurting sections of the country who are seeking a way out?
How much has been done since the Nigeria Civil War ended in 1970 to heal wounds beyond the hypocritical rhetoric of those who should take responsibility for their actions and even make reparations?
The grandstanding is clear for all to see.
A symphony of sychophancy
With 2023 by the corner and with spoils of electoral war appearing on the horizon, long-dead and moribund groups are stirring to life. That is the only viable explanation for the visit of the forum of State Chairmen of the former Congress for Progressive Change which formed the core of Buhari`s audience when he evoked the Nigeria Civil War and spoke of the achievements of his administration.
To confirm that the visit had something to do with the 2023 general elections, the Chairman of Forum of State Chairmen of Defunct CPC and former chairman of the Party in Niger State, Umar Shuaibu, said the party had maintained all its structures across the country, while assuring the President of their loyalty, especially in the forthcoming elections.
Maybe, if before the visit of the group to the State House, Umar Shuaibu had aggregated the views of his people in Niger State about the current insecurity roiling the state, his message to the president would have been radically different and more representative of his people.
Instead, all he did was to add more notes to the symphony of sychophancy his group took with it to the State House.
As things stand, between now and February 2023,there will be more sycophants streaming to the State House on solidarity visits fueled by greed.They too must be considered among the skulk of foxes who have contributed in keeping Nigeria rooted to a spot.
Kene Obiezu
Twitter: @kenobiezu
