For a human being so it is for a nation, even more so! At any point in life, one comes to a crossroad and is confronted with a decision on the right direction. Whatever fate befalls one thereafter depends on the decision taken at that critical moment, for destiny may be one's final point but fate is a conscious choice. How you arrive at your destination in life, especially how fast, is the sum total of all your conscious choices. Fortunately, life provides for one at each crossroad an opportunity to take the right branch, an opportunity to redirect oneself on the nearest and the fastest path to one's destiny.
Sometimes if one proves intransigence or incapable of redirecting oneself on the right path to greatness, Providence contrives a crisis situation calculated to shock one back to reality. It happened to both Nigeria and Ghana.
For Ghana such a situation arrived when their economy collapsed and they had to troop to Nigeria and overseas for sustenance. Just like it happened to the Israelites at one time or the other in their history, they saw so much deprivations and maltreatments abroad that, by the time they had to go home, they had acquired a more nationalistic view of their country. They had paid for the iniquities of encouraging the profligacy of their leaders, particularly of encouraging Kwame Nkrumah in deviating from his soul-inspiring nationalistic teachings. In recompense, Providence threw up Jerry Rawlings and the rest is history.
For Nigeria, the military intervention was meant as a providential chastisement but it was hobbled by ethnic baggage and character failures. Since we refused to get it right, more crises was thrown into the mix which was eventually prosecuted by a born-again nationalistic Gowon who may have lacked the spiritual wherewithal to complete his divine assignment. In comes Murtala Mohammed who could not be allowed to stay for various reasons, chief of which was that Eve and Adam had tasted the forbidden apple; the reformer has become worse than the problem and a musical chair ensued in the military. All these were contrived to wean the people form their now-military mentality. But Nigerians had joined the debauchery of the Military elite, turning into the fly that was following the corpse to the grave. They could not even understand the spiritual significance of Abiola's election, on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, nor its political advantages. It needed the jackboot of Abacha to highlight the aberrations of a military rule. Obasanjo entered with so much promise but, coming through an unwholesome election and suspicious democratic credentials, he could not be allowed to deliver on his assignment and the squandering of Nigeria's earnings under his watch is eloquent on the nobility of his soul and regime. The actions or inactions of his hand-picked successor do not bear any comment, until his tenure ends; you cannot gain something from nothing! It is a spiritual law; it is inimitable.
How was Ghana recoupable and Nigeria's case intractable?
Apart from the Abiola debacle of recent memory, there have been some particular moments in the early stages of Nigeria's political development when decisions were taken by our founding fathers that may have diverted us from the glorious path of greatness. Maybe we would have been better than the Asian Tigers who we had dusted in the developmental race at that time.
Maybe if Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe had not run back to his laarger after the cross-carpet episode, maybe if Chief Obafemi Awolowo had not played the ethnic card that gave rise to that episode, maybe if Sir Ahmadu Bello had not baulked at self-rule because he feared his people would be at a disadvantage, maybe if the British had enthroned a national ethos during their watch as the Colonial Master, maybe... maybe...maybe!
A thousand maybes but two issues crop up on careful analysis. One, there is one streak running through the actions of the big Nigerian masquerades above: ethnicity, no pan-Nigeria decision. Two, right through the actions, of the three, can be discerned another common streak: inordinate craze to stay politically relevant, to stay in power and in control.
These decisions may be more relevant than people think; they are conscious choices that direct our paths. Where you are entrusted with some spiritual responsibilities, it becomes even more important. One may not like Rawlings' style but the effect was patently therapeutic and Ghana is the better for it today; if you do not cut open and express out a painful boil you may not get any effective relief!
Where would Nigeria be today if Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello had enthroned the culture in the polity of accepting setbacks as temporary and a challenge to return to the drawing board for the next opportunity? Please post your comments as it would help in this project of re-inventing Nigeria.
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