For months now, what started as mere talks and hot air have snowballed into solid, scary events that have become inescapable. It will now be foolhardy to attempt to wish it away. We have witnessed how the South Eastern (SE) region of Nigeria quickly transformed into a theatre of bloodshed from its peaceful, gay atmosphere.
The industrious Igbo society has now found itself in a new atmosphere of murder, arson and brigandage, a scenario not characteristic to the society. In 2011, I did my NYSC in Aguata Local Government in Anambra State. I took time to mix with the boys. I was motivated by their spirit of never-say-die when it comes to acquiring a good independent ife. They are independent, resilient and determined.
A particular friend of mine, a native of Aguluezechukwu where my Place of Primary Assignment was, Sunny, kept telling me of how he would come to Lagos and locate his shop. He had a small shop back then where he sold all sorts of things but his dream was to become the CEO of a company that produces plastic items. He used to advise me to not believe that there was a job after NYSC. That was the level of determination you could see on the faces of young men in the streets of Igbo land.
Ten years down the line, all that has obviously changed. Suddenly life in the east is not worth a dime. The tales of destruction and killings are so strong that they make your blood clot within your veins. You wonder how the murderous spirit descended on the youths to take up arms against the land they were building. The pride of every Igbo man is to own a building on his father’s land. The fathers always leave a plot of land bequeathed to each of their children to start a home on. That carries strong attachment to the place of one’s birth and ancestry. This is the level of respect I have for the Igbos.
I am sad that such a place so rich in culture and traditions is being reduced to rubbles. The painful part is that the elders who are supposed to caution the youths are watching the goat deliver in its ropes.
Killing policemen, killing soldiers and burning police stations, from the point of view of an outsider, is tantamount to exposing the region to lawlessness. No modern society operates smoothly without the law. It is a jungle that is unfolding before our very eyes. No matter how bad the police and the army seemingly are, their presence makes crime look less attractive.
The confusion in the south east probably stems from the rancorous relationship between the politicians and their people which is the direct consequence of a long period of neglect of the masses by the political class. Like Machiavelli once said, he who wants to be obeyed must know how to command. The political and traditional leaders created a gap between them and their people which was left yawning for a long time. Nature abhors vacuum. Someone filled it, and that man is Nnamdi Kanu.
Buhari’s high handed behaviour was the only model of pacifism that the government has thought fit for the youths of the south east, and the leaders condemned their youths instead of standing up for them. The leaders did not listen to the youths. They were afraid of losing political favour. Instead of speaking up, each man rode on the back of the youths to political stardom.
At this point, Nnamdi Kanu deftly moved in. Kanu, a suave, fine orator knows what to say and when to say it. He espoused the victim status of the South East and the need to liberate themselves. He touched the essential emotions in the youths. They suddenly started seeing him as their god.
It was at that point that the leaders of the east ought to have stopped the separatist mindset being sold by Kanu to the largely disenchanted youths. They should have dialogued with the youths. People who still commanded some measure of respect among the youths such as Senator Abaribe could have swung in to douse the tension by appealing to the youths to see their issues in a different light, while rallying the elders in the region to map out a lasting and more concrete solution to the problem.
Now, we have a youth population that resents the government, the political class, the traditional rulers and the law. In my opinion, it is never too late to try to work out a solution. Somethings can be done to achieve both immediate and long term peaceful outcomes in the east.
One of them is for the political class to own up to their colossal leadership failure, swallow their pride and seek Kanu.Men who still enjoy some measure of goodwill from the youths such as Peter Obi, Enyinnaya Abaribe and others should lead the charge. They can work out something with Kanu, who obviously is the de facto leader of the youths.
The leaders can begin to adopt community policing by talking to the youths in their domain to make them see the significance of a peaceful eastern Nigeria. The said unknown gunmen are not really unknown if the people would tell themselves the truth. Seek them, make them understand that a man does not set his own house on fire just to spite his neighbours.
In the long run, the politicians and the traditional rulers must see the importance of education among their youths. During my NYSC days in Anambra state, I taught mathematics at a secondary school. Most of the boys paid little attention to me. Their minds were preoccupied by money, trade and cars. One told me to stop bordering myself. He even offered me money to give him scores he never merited because he had no time to study. He just wanted to be done with the ‘boring’ school and go to make money. That is a dangerous mindset. It must be impressed on them that education and trade are not mutually exclusive. A well educated mind is difficult to indoctrinate.
Kanu’s success and mass following come from the large crowds of illiterate and semi literate youths across the south east. Most of them do not even understand the issues and do not make any attempt to understand them. The south east government must take education seriously. There is no alternative to education.
Unless peace is quickly achieved, the times ahead are pregnant with vicissitudes for the south east. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to save the south eat from turning to the north east.
Alex Agbo writes from Lagos.