I love to quote from one of my best books written by one of my greatest authors, Frantz Fanon's THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH because, though written in 1961, it captures perfectly the present reality in Nigeria.
Frantz Fanon wrote: "The collective struggle presupposes collective responsibility at the base and collegiate responsibility at the top. Yes; everybody will have to be compromised in the fight for the common good. No one has clean hands; there are no innocents and no onlookers."
Frantz Fanon further notes: "We all have dirty hands; we are all soiling them in the swamps of our country and in the terrifying emptiness of our brains. Every onlooker is either a coward or a traitor."
Until there is a collective resolve of the masses to put behind them the elite-created syndromes of ethnicity and religion and engage the political class, nothing better will happen in this country because, according to Fanon, "We all have dirty hands" since "we are all soiling /
/them in the swamps... in the terrifying emptiness of our brains."
Anytime I read Fanon's book, I see more clearly how little most of us understand the problem of the country. The nationalist leaders, with the exception of Mallam Aminu Kano, saw Nigeria's problem in ethnic terms.
Anytime I read Fanon's book, I see more clearly how little most of us understand the problem of the country. The nationalist leaders, with the exception of Mallam Aminu Kano, saw Nigeria's problem in ethnic terms.
Aminu Kano sort to address the "Talakawas" (poor or masses) problem. The forces of reaction in the North stood firmly against him because that will diminish their power base.
In 1979, all the political parties consolidated power in ethnic terms including unfortunately, Aminu Kano's People's Redemption Party (PRP). But unlike the others, its strategies and tactics were not ethnic (some ethnic churvinists will NEVER admit /
/Prof. Chinua Achebe served as Nation Vice President of PRP).
My point here is, "No one has clean hands; there are no innocents..." There are no "righteous" or "My ethnic group is better than yours" orientation. If that continues, the masses lose and the political class gains!
My point here is, "No one has clean hands; there are no innocents..." There are no "righteous" or "My ethnic group is better than yours" orientation. If that continues, the masses lose and the political class gains!
