Nigeria And Twitter (2)

By Femi Kusa

NIGERIA is not letting go in her unnecessary quarrel with TWITTER. This isn't surprising, because, in a dispute, the wrong party is not the mature party and, so, is unable to say "I AM SORRY", even when all the cards are showing red. So, all we keep hearing is "TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF NIGERIA". We go to church, we worship in mosques. In the mosques, we say we "release" hands and legs to Him, the Almighty Creator and Ruler of All the worlds. In the church, we pray: THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. To cap it, ISLAM means SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF ALLAH. But do we respect this WILL? Did the Almighty Creator choose a land mass in Africa and name it NIGERIA? Isn't NIGERIA a geographical expression of Lord Lugard for the colonial administrative convenience and economic benefit of Great Britain? Anyone who wishes to discover the WILL OF THE CREATOR about Nigeria should observe His WILL in Nature as expressed in THE LAW OF ATTRACTION OF HOMOGENEOUS SPECIES. By this LAW, only things of the same nature are brought together for the sake of peace, harmony and beauty. In the forests, do we see lions, hyenas and elephant living together? What of monkeys, buffalos, tigers or Eagles, bats and pigeons? Each tribe of animals lives in its own colonies, apart from others. 

What do we observe in the sea? Do whales, sharks and crayfish live together? No! What about Salmon, Titus and Halibut? Each specie of fish congregates in its own little corner of the world, separate from other specie, enjoying its life in peace and governing itself. Even on land, we observe that land forms vary from one region of the earth to the other. Thus, the type of banana we eat in Nigeria is not likely to be the type of banana eaten in Guyana. Everything is adapted to the species, and the human body fashioned out of the soil of a particular region is better maintained by the food stuff of that region. 

Away from all these, I would like to return to the heart of an article I wrote in THE GUARDIAN newspaper about 25 years ago which I gave the title LET'S RETURN TO THE ANTS AND BE WISE. In this article, I referred to the congregation of the human body as a perfect example of how mankind should constitute itself into nations or states without all the rancour evident in today's world by the attempt of one tribe of man trying to conquer, dominate, exploit and enslave the others. For any attempt to do any of these things is opposed to the WILL of the Almighty Creator and shows the offending tribe as immature, crude and evil. 

The human body is formed in the WILL of the Creator when the male cell fertilizes the female cell. Both cells evolve into one cell, the ZYGOTE. This single cell begins to divide until a sufficient number is made to form a human body. In the adult human body, there are about 100 trillion cells. Each cell is independent of the other but peacefully co-exists with the whole. Homogeneous cells form homogeneous tissue and organs, while homogeneous organs form homogeneous systems. Thus, the cells of the skin are different from those of the bones, those of the bones are different from those of the eyes or of the brain. The reproductive system is different from the nervous system or the excretory system. Each cell serves the whole and is served by it. Each system gets from the whole what it cannot on its own make for itself and gives to the other systems what they cannot on their own produce for themselves.

Please recall that, in the first part of this series, I said different tribes of mankind are led to different regions of the earth where, in the WISDOM of the Almighty Creature, is most condusive for their material and spiritual development and flowering. I also said that, ahead of their being guided there, the forces of Nature, obeying the WILL of the Almighty Creator, had prepared for these peoples what they would need for their sustenance. Is there anyone among us who sends a child to the boarding house without giving him or her pocket money and other provision? No reasonable parent would do so. Would it be right in the boarding house for the bullies to force other students to surrender their provision? It would not be. Would we not protect our children if they are bullied over their resources? We would.

Now, this is what happens in the human body which we can observe and make the basis of governance, even in a multi-tribe or multi-ethnic nation state such as Nigeria, which is a human contraption. The usual system, for example, cannot provide for its nutrition. This digestive system does this for it and the circulatory system brings it food and removes its waste products or garbage. The excretory system, too, relies on the respiratory system for oxygen and the digestive system for other nutrients. The body must move about. That's the duty of the skeletal, muscular and nervous systems. Although the individual cell can protect itself against infections and damaging free radicals, the system does come to its aid. Beyond the system, there is an immune system which defends the entire body. This aspect is instructive for the unnecessary debate on whether the constitutents States of Nigeria shouldn't have their own police force as the various regions did in the First Republic. The human body which none of us created, but was created in the WILL of our Maker, has given us the unequivocal answer. If we are not selfish and dangerous monopolists of power who need it to intimidate and to submerge other people so that, like armed robbers, we can exploit and suck life out of them, we would not oppose the right of even the individual citizens to express and protect themselves. Coupled with the ideas the microscopic ant employ to govern its own nation, gathering food in dry weather so it would not be washed away in the wet months, that article was titled LET'S RETURN TO THE ANT AND BE WISE.

This call is relevant today in the NIGERIA TWITTER QUARREL. Nigeria talks agitatingly about the sacrosance of territorial integrity as if the present geographic configuration called Nigeria issued directly from the hands of the Almighty Creator and it must be defended with the last drop of every citizen. In any case, who or where are those humans who can fight His battle? Do humans not delude themselves when they think they can or are doing so? Do we not get it wrong? I am not saying Lord Lugard's geographic expression called Nigeria cannot stand the test of time as a nation. If it will, it just do so within the WILL of the Almighty Creator that only things that are homogeneous be together as I  have explained with animal colonies and the human body. Today's Nigeria is a conglomeration of about 25 ethnically differentiated peoples, some more mature than the others and all see life and existence from different perspectives. Even their languages are testimonials of their differences. For sounds and times which the spoken word expresses and which also give form to the spoken word are spiritually derived from the levels each tribe have risen to in the huge terrain between the earth and the spiritual home of man. Those who have risen no more than a quarter of the journey cannot see or aspire to the existence of those who have gone half a mile up wish to live. Thus, if they all MUST live in one country, each must be permitted a great deal of self determination. I do not at 70 do the music of DAVIDO and WIZKID but I cannot stop my grandchild bfrom "flowing" with them. In like manner, I cannot force my no-sugar, no white flour life on anyone who is yet to appreciate radiant health. The Constitution of strange bed follows in the Nigerian state must, therefore, not be a grid-lock constitution in which there is a Federal Government waving the sword of Damocles over everyone, and one ethnic group or a combination of them trying to force everyone down or up to its level. A homogeneous Nigerian state would therefore be a MIRAGE for as long as it is not possible for all ethnic groups in the contraption to think, see, feel and speak alike. Think about it: if the All-Wise Almighty Creator wanted uniformity, there would be only one tribe of human beings who speak one language and follow one religion. There would be one plant on this Earth which would feed all human beings and animals alike. But in His Wisdom, He permitted diversity. In His Infinite Goodness and Mercy, the All-Wise Almighty Creator and Ruler over all the worlds has premitted that everyone of us be born among people we are homogeneous with. I am not Igbo or Fulani for this reason. I was born among a people I am most likely to enjoy the best impetus for spiritual growth, which is why I am on earth. The Fulani or the Igbo is among the people who can best make him or her most rapidly and in peace and happiness enjoy this support as well. 

So, in resolving the NIGERIA TWITTER quarrel, there is no need to "carry shoulders" as we say. There is need to say "I AM SORRY", if there is an absolute need to do so. Sometimes, when I am off my intuitive guard, I intellectually make some wrong assumptions even in respect of young persons. Once I discover I am in the wrong, I do not embark on "make good behaviours" that is try to makeup in other ways. I get myself to say those three words....."I AM SORRY".

President Muhammadu Buhari personalizes National issues. When he was interviewed this week, about TWITTER and NIGERIA, he said he would keep to himself what he would do. These upsets millions of Nigerians whose lives have been disturbed by President Buhari's proclamation on TWITTER. He and his aides have coloured his personal interest as National interest as if to say L'etat c'est moi(I am the State). He would display this attitude on his explanation of why Nigeria is spending money to construct rail-lines to NIGER Republic. He says African boundaries are artificial boundaries and that some of his cousins are in NIGER Republic. In respect of cattle rampaging farm lands, he said he has asked the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to divert cattle from open grazing to grazing routse established in 1960. In other words, President Buhari is returning the country to 1960 in 2021, pulling everyone back when we should have moved far, far away from 1960. In other words, Nigeria may remain an OLD SCHOOL country until President Buhari takes his exit.