Even as we shout and scream at each other and we are clamouring to destroy the temple and erect a new one we should be mindful of the larger world we live in and be conscious that we are surrounded by enemies. We should be on our guard as a people and as a country; even if that country is tottering.

We should be on our guard! Britain and the US [and even some African countries] do not wish us well and there are copious reasons to believe so. Right from the time of the so-called Amalgamation the British imperial authorities did not expect us to succeed as an independent country. They planted booby traps for India before the country split into three, giving birth to Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was the same story in the Sudan. And the way Nigeria was designed specifically was to submit the country to unending struggles, manipulations and chaos. Little wonder the walls cracked within 5 years of the paper Independence!

The United States of America does not want any African country to be strong enough to challenge her domineering posture in the UN. She does not want any African country to compete with her influence in the continent of Africa. She does not want any African country that will be a reference point for the 40 million African American citizens in the US. And would certainly not tolerate any African country that would be strong enough to challenge the mistreatment she subjects the people of African descent to in their own country the USA. For these and several undisclosed strategic considerations it is in the US interest to keep Nigeria down and make sure our country never develops to be a major world power.

We should be conscious of the fact that Nigeria will never be forgiven for leading the freedom fight in South Africa, Angola, Mozambique and old Rhodesia [Zimbabwe]. We should also be mindful of the fact that the US created Sadam to fight Iran. The US created Bin Laden in Afghanistan to checkmate the influence of Russia in that region. The US created ISS and armed her to the teeth.

Iraq, Libya and Syria were once very prosperous countries. In fact Iraq had the fourth largest/strongest Military in the world before US sent her vengeance machine to the very pre-historic country to destroy their civilization and turned the citizens there to confused beggars and suicide squads. No country in Africa enjoyed the kind of prosperity Gaddafi gave to the Libyans before the US invaded that extremely rich country and humiliated their leader cruelly and brutishly and turned the entire citizenry to dustbin scavenging paupers.

The cat is being gradually let out of the bag that CIA might be involved in the carnage been wreaked on the country by the indefinable Boko Haram. Initially Boko Haram set out to avenge the cold blooded murder of their founding leader Mohammed Yusuf and also to punish the politicians who used and dumped them. But no sooner did the world’s super trouble shooter find an opening in the North East walls she jumped into our shores and that is the internationalisation of Boko Haram we are bedeviled with today.

There is no excuse for regime change in Nigeria. The options left for the CIA are the strengthening of our internal divisions and the deep sated suspicions in the land to orchestrate an internal warfare. And once war starts all kinds of ‘Peace Keepers’ will creep in and Nigeria will find itself a replica of Somalia which has not had a central government in 25 years since the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1992.

While we pursue our legitimate self determination struggles to free this damned country from the claws of Fulani imperialism and the barbaric madness of the Fulani herdsmen we must also keep our eyes on the larger picture. I have given serious thought to the issue of NEGOTIATING our forced political marriage and have come to the conclusion that it might after all be defeatist and arrant escapism to want to run away from a country we have all invested heavily in because some Fulani internal imperialists could not be handled.

I do not blame those who are saying ‘Enough is enough’. I do not blame the Biafra protagonists. I do not blame the protagonists of Oodua Republic, Oodaye Republic, Yoruba Republic, Oduduwa Republic or those of the Middle Belt Republic or the Niger Delta Republic. They all have their reasons for wanting to opt out of a collapsing unworkable country where a minority Cabal had been pulling back the progress of others for well over ten decades.

My worry and my dilemma is the inevitable collateral damage that will attend a violent and bloody break up. If there is another way of putting an end to the Fulani domination and the Stone Age disposition of the Nomads without shedding a single drop of blood, why can we not explore that option?

A situation may arise if we are plunged into fratricide war when former governors, former ministers and former Chief Executives of banks and barons of industry may be queuing for loaves of bread at refugee camps across the war torn country. I visited Okpanam to see Nzeogwu’s mother after the Nigeria-Biafra war. I saw Ore. I had my Honeymoon at Enugu after the war following my wedding held in Ibadan. I saw relics, debris, and charred left- over -objects of the war.

Elder statesman and former Military Chief Lagosian Bode George has called for restraint. I tend to support his line of thought. But that is not to say that the struggle is over or that leaders of the country should not quickly come round to CREATE a just and honourable country. It is not to say that Nigeria should not immediately embark on the road to CONFEDERATION. Or that we should sweep everything under the carpet as we have always done. Not this time around!

Let the six regions we are making into confederating units be semi-AUTONOMOUS. The South East could still call their region BIAFRA. And the Yoruba can rename the South West as Oodua or Oduduwa or whatever. Same could apply to North Central and so on and so forth. But all the confederating regions will retain their cherished identity and individuality and each and every one being EQUAL partners in the CONFEDERATION.

What shall bind us together in the UNION will be Defence and Security, Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy, Finance and Fiscal Policy, Immigration and Customs and Citizenship and Internal Affairs. The Confederation shall not have more than 15 to 18 Ministers in total.

No one is going to run away from anybody in Nigeria. Nobody is going to drive away anybody from Nigeria. We built the country together with our blood, brain and brawn. We shall destroy the unworkable temple but rebuild it immediately with wisdom and equity. No more masters and servants. No more lords and fiefs.

It is after we have explored this SENSIBLE option of staying and living together in a CONFEDERATION, and according each and every one respect and dignity that we can beat our chests in triumph. It will not be by running away from anybody.

There is a GREAT advantage in being a CITIZEN of A BIG and POWERFUL PROSPEROUS country than being a CHIEF of an HAMLET.

If all else fails, then to thy tent oh Israel!

•Chief Tola Adeniyi, a former Managing Director of Daily Times of Nigeria, is Executive Chairman, The Knowledge Plaza and Founder Global Intelligentsia for Buhari. He can be reached via can be reached via adetolaadeniyi@hotmail.com

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