TO THE CONFERENCE TABLE, O NIGERIA!

Alhaji Asari Dokubo

"On the other hand, my dear brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta couldn’t see themselves protesting a policy put in place by their beloved son, in whom they are well pleased; that being, President Goodluck Jonathan! You needed to see Asari Dokubo’s theatrics as he threatened to have his men occupy the oil platforms to prevent oil workers from carrying out their threat to shut themdown by midnight Saturday. According to him, if they take it over, they won’t ever vacate it again!"

And so, the “mother of all strikes” threatened by Labour and its civil society allies did hold!  For all of five days, Nigeria was shut down. For all of five days, Nigerians from all strata of society gathered in thousands, tens of thousands, and scores of thousands as the case may be in virtually every major town across the nation.

It is unprecedented. Not even the agitation for the actualisation of the June 12, 1993 electoral mandate of Bashorun M.K.O Abiola was this massive and this consistent. Although, fatalities have unfortunately been reported in a number of centres, the street protests and rallies have been largely peaceful – amazingly! The organisers, particularly in Lagos and Abuja deserve commendation for their efforts to keep it so.

The security agencies have also comported themselves well, largely, save for pockets of overzealousness in a few centres. The Federal government deserve commendation for this. Attributable to the public temperament of President Goodluck Jonathan as this is, the fact may also be stated that the world has become more intolerant of suppression of peoples rights of protest; making the fear of The International Criminal Court (ICC) the beginning of wisdom.

No matter how this ends, and I can’t see it ending any other way but the People’s way, the sights and sounds from the Gani Fawehinmi (Freedom) Square, at Ojota, Lagos will remain in the subconscious of many Nigerians, particularly those of current leaders of our nation for a long time. It will also ring across the annals as a warning to potential dictators.

But let’s face it, fall-outs from this anti-subsidy campaign has made the need to rethink this federation more urgent. This is what I mean.

In my understanding of the issues, I thought we were talking about the existence or otherwise of a subsidy on the pump price of petrol in Nigeria, and, if there is, whether it is desirable to retain or remove it.

I thought that we were contending at the level of ideas about government’s insistence that there is indeed a subsidy and that it must be removed for Nigeria’s economy to afford bankruptcy in the near to medium term and opposition’s position against government’s.

I thought that there was an emerging consensus that if indeed there is a subsidy to be removed then there must be safety nets prior to its removal as against government’s inclination to withdraw the subsidy and then use its proceeds to put palliatives in place.

I also thought that the strike was called because government in defiance of labour and civil society’s opposition and while consultations were still supposedly on-going, stealthily implemented its position wholesale.

This was why I wrote here last week as follows: “There must be better ways of implementing a public policy that its designers swear to high heavens is meant to ultimately benefit the masses. Governance by stealth, by deceit cannot be one of the ways. And to think that spokespersons of this administration claim an awareness of the fact that Nigerians don’t trust their government. This one not excluded! I won’t waste your time trying to argue for or against the policy itself; not least because I think it’s simply one of those numbers- rather than people-based, one-size-fits-all imposition of the Breton Woods institutions. But for God’s sake why sneak it in while giving every body the impression you are still consulting?!”

But, I seemed to have missed something, if reactions from parts of the South East and the Niger Delta, as reported in the media, are anything to go by.

According to those reports some of my brethren in the East wouldn’t partake of the campaign because, when their kith and kin were being killed by Boko Haram in parts of the North, nobody called people out on strike. On the other hand, my dear brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta couldn’t see themselves protesting a policy put in place by their beloved son, in whom they are well pleased; that being, President Goodluck Jonathan! You needed to see Asari Dokubo’s theatrics as he threatened to have his men occupy the oil platforms to prevent oil workers from carrying out their threat to shut themdown by midnight Saturday. According to him, if they take it over, they won’t ever vacate it again!

Now, coming against the background of earlier Boko Haram ultimatum for Christians to leave the North and Moslems in the South to return home; an ultimatum they followed at expiration with the murder of Christians at a service, I think, we might be more divided than its obviously too politically incorrect for our leaders to admit.

I listened to Methodist Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde on television recently quoting from I Kings chapter 12 the unfortunate division of Israel into two right after the death of Solomon and I shudder to contemplate a similar fate for this nation.

Of course, I am fully persuade that God didn’t keep us together this long, thus far to now abandon us. I am fully persuaded that the God’s perfect will for our nation is reflected in word of God that came to me on January 1 from Isaiah 41:11-13: “Don't worry--I am with you. Don't be afraid--I am your God. I will make you strong. I will help you. I will support you with my right hand that brings victory.  Look, some people are angry with you, but they will be ashamed and disgraced. Your enemies will be lost and disappear.  You will look for the people who were against you, but you will not be able to find them. Those who fought against you will disappear completely.  I am the LORD your God, who holds your right hand. And I tell you, 'Don't be afraid! I will help you.’” But then, man has been known to force God’s hands into “permissive will” mode. To avoid that; to stop tempting God, we need to talk now, before it is too late.