My father, Late Chief Moses Nnaluo Diboh once told me that a stick does not need to poke a conscious man twice in life- that whomever a stick poked twice is nothing but a blind man. Then I could not comprehend the meaning of such a wise counsel. But today I feel, I have understand the import of that very counsel of my late Father. I am perturbed that Nigerians are not yet ready to lend their voice on the need for the Chairman of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Attahiru Jega to resign. I am worried why some of our people don't want to join the crusade that 'Jega Must go' campaign until its negative impact downed on them.
Its disheartening to hear some excuses that 'Mr. Jega is doing the bidding of Mr. President', that its a 'conspiracy between Jega and Presidency to calm Northern Politicians' and all that- that the part of conspiracy to return Mr. President as a President Elect in 2015 was to give the North more polling units and rig the election thereafter in favor of Mr. President. Though the argument seems plausible but for crying out loud, I am not a fan of Mr. President but a crusader against any form of Injustice, oppression and corruption. I don't care if Mr. President wins 2015 or not , but my desire is that delineation of additional polling units and sharing of other natural resources must follow due process- using the more acceptable census data.
Allowing Jega and North to have their way will spell doom to future generation of Southerners as injustice that is allowed to prevail do breeds constants injustice. Lets go a memory lane, prior to 1970, most constituent parts of the Country known then as region want to retain its statute and map. No existing region at then wants to cede its parts to a new region, or wants to be divided to give rooms to emerging State. In this regards, Late Chief Awolowo did everything humanly possible , including lobbying the Federal Government Panel on States Creation to ensure that Western Region was not divided while he last as Premier of the Region. The Igbo dominated Eastern Region also thwarted efforts of the COR(Cross River, Ogoja and Rivers) natives who wanted out. While its a known fact that Sir Ahmed Bello, the former Premier of Northern Region even though it's an open secret that the Northern minorities of middle belts area wanted a region of their own fought so hard to retained the hegemony.
However, the Northerners discovered earlier on time, that more States will give them more right to claim superior population over the Southern Region and moreso more revenues from the ever distributing Federal government. Hence as soon as the Military took over, the Northern leaders created more States in North while the Igbo dominated Eastern region was fighting for indivisibility of Eastern Region. Before one could shout Harry, in the then 19 states structure of Nigeria, the Northern Region has 11 States as against 8 for the entire people of Southern region. While its pertinent to point here that at Independence, the Colonial masters handed Nigeria a 3 States(Region) Structures - 1 in the North as against 2 States in the Southern part of the Country. In 1963, the effort of Rt Hon Nnamdi Azikiwe yielded fruit as a Republican constitution emphasis that South has more population than North with 4 States Structures- 1 in the North and the other 3 in the South. So how did we arrive at this sorry state whereby the North now has 19 States plus Abuja as against the South 17 in a 36 States Structures?
As far as I am concern, crying over the lopsided nature of the States creation is like one crying over the spilled milk, because at the onset we all applauded them saying that they are not united. But today the devastating effect of the injustice is too glaring for all to see. Mine is that we must push this water before it reaches the ankle, hence the need to use whatever we have to push for Mr. Attahiru Jega Must go campaign. Yes Jega must go for there be peace in the land.
Comrade Biafra Diboh
writes from Asia City of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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