There are renewed calls for an independent state of Igbo people, but what form would Biafra of 2018 look like? The author shares his thinking. 

The political terrain in Nigeria, today has two colossal parties—PDP and APC—vying for power at the national level. However, it appears to be merely déjà vu as the binary trend has had similar appearances in Nigeria’s chequered history and experiment with democratic politics. Indeed, they have all been alignments and realignments of Nigeria’s ruling elite classes.

Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, which is currently running, was born on 29 May 1999—with Olusegun Obasanjo as inaugural executive president. A year later, on 29 May 2000, the president proclaimed 29 May of every year Nigeria’s “Democracy Day”. The day was also added to the list of the country’s national public holidays. It was a unilateral executive decision—by which I mean that neither the proclamation of “Democracy Day” nor the declaration of public holiday was endorsed, before the acts, by the constitution or any legislative body or any other institution of the Nigerian state or any organised public opinion.

The severed head lay on the side of its face, and Jide was looking into a sinewy aperture with goo. He couldn’t see the eyes: he saw just bloodied vessels, ribbon muscles and things a biology major would have been thrilled to identify. Gooey sinews, veins and stringy things flamed out perpendicular to a protruding greyish white, and waxy-looking lifeless tongue. Because the head was so close, he could not tell if the congealing deep red-brown blood streaks on the earthen floor, on which they lay were his. He knew he had been hit hard on the skull and could feel a gash in his head. Then there was the overpowering stench that dazed him. It woke him up.

I would like to preface this piece with the following four declarations: One: My dominant interest in Election 2019 is the strengthening of the Nigerian Left in the country’s electoral and non-electoral politics. That is the only real change that can take place and that Nigerian masses deserve. Two: By the Left I mean the aggregate of socialism and popular democracy. This historical-ideological-political tendency is both anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist in orientation and logic. Three: Nigerian Leftism in the present historical epoch goes beyond being a “weapon of criticism”. It is also a programme of liberation. Four: The effectiveness of Left political interventions depends, to a large extent, on Leftists’ understanding of what is actually happening. This is an elementary service the Left owes itself. None of these declarations is new. They are only being pulled together for this piece.

In my other article, titled “Achebe versus Obasanjo, Danjuma and Agbese”, I argued that bad political leadership is primarily responsible for the failed state of Nigeria, not corruption as many would like us believe. The duty of this article is to present some of the generally approved qualities of good political leadership and apply them on Nigeria’s past and present presidents and heads of state to see if the findings corroborate this position. It may also assist us to understand why Nigeria has remained underdeveloped since 1960 despite the huge resources available for its development.

Nigeria has many problems, but the root cause of all of them is poor leadership and not corruption, as some commentators including a former head of state would like us believe.  

This piece is a memo to the Nigerian Left. In an ideal situation, on account of the importance I attach to the subject, the document would have appeared, first, as an internal memo to an appropriate organ of the movement. For the same reason of importance, it would not have stopped at the organ or leadership level. The memo would have passed to the movement as a whole and, thereafter, to the public. 

It has been over 57 years since the Union Jack went down in Nigeria. However, the indigenous leaders, who replaced the British colonial “masters” have yet to pass muster, prompting average Nigerians, to nostalgically cry out whimsically for a return to colonial times, when things supposedly worked. And now with a lady of African ancestry joining the royal family on 19 May 2018, the plebs may be on to something.

One major problem limiting the national effectiveness and impact of the Nigerian Left in the country’s politics—at least since the end of the (1967-1970) Civil War—has been the contradictions (or “disconnect”) between organisation and programme. Put more concretely: The inability of the organisations of the Left to fully and satisfactorily accomplish the tasks they assign themselves through the employment of the structures, means and methods fashioned by them—and therefore available to them—has been a major limiting factor in its national effectiveness and impact in Nigerian politics. 

The aim here is to summarise my current position on the question of geopolitical restructuring of Nigeria. I say “current” because as far as I can remember, I started thinking seriously—and then debating and writing—about restructuring from 1986 as a member of the Political Bureau. Today, 32 years later, I am still thinking and writing on the subject. The present piece is implicitly a draft memo on this important political subject to the Nigerian Left. And, for the avoidance of doubt, the category “Nigerian Left” means the aggregate of socialism and popular democracy in Nigeria today.

The sting in the comments by erstwhile British Prime Minister, David Cameron, describing Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt” will linger for a long time. Perhaps what makes the animadversion more jarring was that it was made within hearing distance of Nigeria’s supposed incorruptible leader, President Buhari. The throng of hierophants eager to define Nigeria’s identity before its youth can shape their own destiny, capitalised on the nation’s perceived weakness. Nigeria was described as a nation of huts (Donald Trump) and unflatteringly categorised under sh*thole countries (Donald Trump).

The author, recalling his life experience as a young activist of the Left, calls on the Nigeria political Left to unite and prepare for the 2019 presidential in Nigeria.

Historical migration patterns, and the transatlantic slave trade engendered significant cultural and even linguistic osmosis, as various ethnic groups mixed together. Although we find that with the effluxion of time, new identities take more shape, it is difficult to make an argument for discreteness in ethnic or cultural identity. Thus, race it appears is a social construct.

The political establishment appears to be working against the interests and aspirations of the majority of Nigerian people. Especially since the previous economic recession started, almost every policy of government has had the counter-effect of aggravating the burden of the people – from the deregulation of the naira, to paying a ransom for the release of the young ladies kidnapped by Boko Haram. 

One of the propositions of Leftists’ theory of history is that human beings are the makers of their own history. A corollary to this – that human beings do not make this history simply as they wish, but that they make it with materials and circumstances fashioned and transmitted by and from the past – is as important as the main thesis.

Although the Nigerian military repeatedly overthrew civilian governments to combat corruption, its reign of terror was wasteful and institutionalised corruption in Nigeria left the country more divided than ever. To build a world-class military that Nigerians deserve, President Buhari, a former military officer, must first purge the military of corruption.

Edwin Madunagu argues that Nigeria needs a people's manifesto that would borrow from the political left's thinking and be a representative of the people's really demands.  

For Nigeria's All Progressives Congress party to survive after Mohammadu Buhari's presidency, they might as well consider presenting an Igbo presidential candidate in 2023 elections. 

Most of Africa’s past, even present, leaders have been complicit in the misrepresentation of Africa, as they have often been instruments of neo-colonialism. African leaders, with any sign of bravery are often summarily sabotaged, if not executed—invariably with the aid of fellow Black Africans. Africa needs who have Africans' interests at heart.