Nigeria’s two
main writers, Wole Soyinka, and Chinua Achebe, have contended that Nigeria is a
far from realized collectivity. If some disaffected youth take to blowing up
oil installations or insisting on divorcing the polity called Nigeria, it is
because, all their lives, they have experienced Nigeria as an injurious,
lacerating organism.
Mr. Buhari did
not start this essential crisis, but he is part of the broad political and
cultural elite that failed to rise to the task of building Nigeria into a
meaningful community. That task must be undertaken, or the whole concept of
Nigeria will continue to be hollow.
One hopes that
President Buhari has some sense of history. If he does, then he must know how
futile it is to wish to “crush” a nation out of Nigeria. Whatever armory the
Nigerian state has at its disposal, that state cannot crush people into
compliance with an unjust, inequitable order that serves the interests of a
few—at the expense of millions.
The Nigerian
state killed Ken Saro-Wiwa, foolishly believing that the agitation in the Niger
Delta would die as well. It became stronger and more militant in tone. The
Nigerian police murdered Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, deluding
itself that it had crushed the group. Abubakar Shekau emerged as the group’s
new face, more ruthless than Mr. Yusuf. Nigeria has detained Nnamdi Kanu,
spokesman of the Indigenous People of Biafra, but the spirit of the group has
refused to submit.
It’s sad if
Mr. Buhari thinks Nigeria can shoot the disaffected youth in the Niger Delta
into silence and submission. He needs to wake up and assure the youth and all
Nigerians that he understands why they agitate.
Okey Ndibe
novelist, political columnist, and essayist. He teaches fiction and African
literature at Trinity College in Hartford, USA. He is the author of the novels,
Arrows of Rain and Foreign Gods Inc. He tweets from @okeyndibe.
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