BOKO HARAM.

From the foregoing, it is clear
that Biafra happened as a
predictable reaction to a peculiar
interplay of events. If there had
been no coup in 1966, there
would have been no pogrom
and the military would never
have come to power. There
would certainly have been no
Biafra.
I’d like to draw an analogy from
the hallowed institution of
marriage. With nearly two
decades under my belt, I can
say without fear of contradiction
that no one approaches the sacred
altar of matrimony with the faintest
thoughts of a separation or divorce.
I wasn’t thinking of divorce on the
12th of December 1992 and I’m not
considering it even now.
That’s simply because I’m enjoying
a little happiness in here.
Unfortunately, I can’t make the
same claim for many of my friends
and associates. For many, marriage
has become something to be
endured. But it was not designed to
be so. So when marriage ceases to
deliver on the promise of happiness
and bliss, the only option, painful
and stigmatizing as it is, is
separation.
I recently watched a friend go
through the gruesome process of
divorce. The day the court finally
dissolved the union, my friend
came apart completely. That’s why
God hates divorce. That explains
why the Church has no procedure
for annulling the marriage covenant.
In there, it’s until death do you part.
But the reality on ground is that the
divorce courts are very busy.
Governments exist for the welfare of
the people. The legitimacy of any
government is hinged on its
continuing ability to provide for and
protect its citizens. Governments
must create and sustain the enabling
environment for the people to thrive
and realize their deepest aspirations.
The right of a people to determine
what those aspirations are is
unimpeachable. So also is the
process of realizing them. That’s
what democracy is all about; the
very same thing exotically
christened self-determination. Those
rights are inalienable.
Biafra wasn’t an original idea. It
wasn’t something that was
scrupulously articulated. It was
merely a reaction to a government
that had failed to rise to the
demands of the occasion. A default
solution, if you may. In essence,
Biafra represents the resolve of a
people to demand for a better deal.
That’s what started in Tunisia, swept
away the well-entrenched Hosni
Mubarak of Egypt and has Libya’s
Gaddafi’s future hanging by a
thread. Syria’s Al-Assad and
Yemen’s Saleh are fairing no better.
Despotic regimes everywhere are
predictably jittery, and why not?
When people say the unity of
Nigeria is not negotiable, I assume
the well being and security of all
Nigerians have been factored in. I
assume that that unity is founded
on the bedrock of the peoples’
unalloyed and unforced
commitment to the nation’s growth
and sustenance. And the nation’s
primary focus must be to provide
the greatest good for the greatest
number. Where governments falter
or fail in this fundamental task, they
lose the moral basis to demand the
peoples’ commitment and the unity
of such an entity becomes
accordingly compromised.
Husbands are obligated to love their
wives while wives are enjoined to
submit to their husbands. Even
though a wife’s submission should
not ordinarily be predicated on a
husband’s love, we know all too
well that the performance of one
encourages the other. So a husband
who has ceased to love and cherish
his wife cannot turn around to
demand submission. And if such a
woman approaches the courts
demanding the quashing of the
union, he has no basis to oppose it.
As with husband and wife, so it is
with a nation and her peoples. I hate
divorce as perfectly as I detest the
idea of secession. But I’ll have no
qualms recommending both
options if the circumstances so
demand. The Boko Haram
exponents are well within their right
to demand to live how they wish.
What they do not possess is the
right to injure other people’s
interests in the process of actualizing
theirs.
The charter of an organization is not
complete without a provision for
opting out. If you can subscribe,
you must also be able to
unsubscribe.
So do I believe in Biafra? I think I
answered that question a very long
time ago.