Exactly 20 years ago, there was a country!

Nigerians of all persuasions Christians and Moslems; Northerners and Southerners; Arewa, Afenifere and Ndigbo; OPC, MOSOP, MASSOB and even Boko Haram so decided. That appeared to have effectively sealed and delivered the holy matrimony solemnized and signed by Lord Frederick Luggard in 1914. Unfortunately, the kernel of the Sermon on the Mount by American Baptist minister and civil rights leader, Rev. Jesse Jackson, ensured there was no country. The former Democratic Party presidential aspirant delivered the sermon at a media forum during his recent visit to Nigeria. According to him, Nigeria is divided not so much by religion, region and tribe but by greed. With that powerful submission, as clearly demonstrated on June 12, 1993, Rev. Jackson was more dead on target than in his ambitious attempt at the White House. Right, religion, region and tribe are only demonic and destructive tools in the hands of egocentric power mongers and self-proclaimed champions of violence to nourish, pamper and institutionalize their greed for loot and power loots captured majorly for the perpetration of evil, power just for the sake of it. The eternal message of June 12, personified in its martyred symbol, Bashorun MKO Abiola, decisive and demystifying barrier breaker, was on its way to ousting such obnoxious regime. A new dawn of progress-enabling environment was emerging on the horizon to place the country among the comity of nations that be. In October,

1990, the Berlin Wall fell and East and West sections of Germany came together again as one people. Today, no position of power rotates between the two sections. The East is gone, the West has been confined into the refuse dump of history, save for mere identification of places. There is now only one country Germany. Only one president came in between father and son George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush in the worlds most powerful nation. Nothing oscillates, as a must, between the North and South or East and West. There is only one nation United States of America and only the best, the most qualified, wherever he comes from, is good enough at any point in time. But not so in the mere geographical expression that found June 12 unacceptable! The North, South, East and West, 100 years into a turbulent marriage, still hold on tightly to their distinct identities. And so, if Ebele Jonathan deployed his good luck to break the gentlemans agreement among the power cabal to deny the North its turn, we shall make the country ungovernable. And so it was and has been. Jonathan must, whether you like it or not, be re-elected or else the country would cease to exist. Which nation exists that would cease to? Under the PDP zoning policy, the North allowed the South to produce the president for eight years Allowed? By those who own the country? Jonathan must be allowed to govern the country for two terms like other presidents have done. But how many such presidents exist? Shehu Shagari was not allowed to rule for two

terms. Death did not allow Umaru YarAdua to complete even one term. Abiola was not even allowed to rule at all. What a tragic-comedy: 1914 without June 12! Government did not declare a state of emergency in th e states in Niger Delta. General amnesty was declared and those who wanted to take advantage of it were asked to come out and lay down their arms and get some booties. And so a dedicated website was opened: www.amnesty-booties-must-rotate-to-the-North.com. While regional elite and elders have continued to terrorize the people with the anthem that the use of force had never solved the problem of terrorism anywhere in the world, they have failed to show where in the world amnesty booties had. It is absolute deceit and hypocrisy to equate the then militancy in the Niger Delta with Boko Harams terrorism. But then, take it or leave it, if Jonathan is not good enough to rule Nigeria for two terms of four years each, then Niger Delta is not good enough to be in Nigeria. In addition, Nigeria cannot continue to feed fat on our(?) oil and still treat us as second=class citizens. But Nigerians had no such thoughts in 2011 when many openly confessed they would have rejected the PDP but for Jonathan. And, in a June 12 republic, if the people savoured the sentimental leverage to embrace Jonathan in spite of the PDP, they also reserve the socio-political latitude to reject the PDP in spite of Jonathan.

These are definitely not the best of times. For the selfish purpose of capturing political loots and booties, do-or-die power mongers have established a monstrous demonic industry of ethno-religious, tribal and political blackmail, thriving on the platform of violence. Barrier-breaking feats, like as performed by Abiola, are being made increasingly unlikely even by many who are supposed to be intellectuals. The terror of corruption sponsored by greed has almost completely enveloped the land, festering with gruesome assassinations and political gangsterism in high places. The one who many observers consider to be the strong man the country needs at this crucial point continues, disappointingly, to make pronouncements that portray him as a religious bigot, instigator of violence and supporter of terrorism. Should a sacrifice be made to the prowling ghost of June 12 in this secret cults-infested land? If June 12 was not good enough to confirm 1914, then the prevailing atmosphere is not good enough to sustain the subsisting socio-political arrangement. Therefore, revisit the gay marriage of 1914, not by rolling out the drums and the vuvuzelas in celebration, but by holding an inevitable family meeting to decide on whether you want to form a genuine nation or remain a mere geographical expression. There is nothing to celebrate in a long marriage in which each partner still prioritize, in a deadly feast of blood, his pre-marriage identity. But meanwhile, take a lesson from the Holy Bible and let he that thinketh he standeth as the Barcelona

of violence take heed lest he falls, yakata, before a Bayern Munich. This, from his famous armoury of proverbs, is President Abiolas new message on June 12.

Published: The Guardian, Sunday, June 09, 2013, Opinion page (full text) Nigerian Tribune, Wednesday, June 12, 2013, Opinion page (full text) Daily Independent, Wednesday, June 12, 2013, Comment page (full text)