Thread by @Spotlight_Abby

Southern Nigeria has been in a dilemma about the concept of One Nigeria.

On one hand, it was the hallmark of sophistry to support #OneNigerianism, but this mostly meant relegating d good interests of d South

This invariably produced an ambivalence, esp for political leaders. 1/

-who congregate at Abuja to kiss d ring, shout One Nigeria & enjoy d meagre bounties of self interests at d expense of regional geopolitics

For most part of the North, d story is the opposite. Religion steeped in culture & emboldened by structural imbalance, remains supreme. 2/

Down South, most people went about their businesses, esp in the South East & more or less, outsourced political leadership to jobbers.

The result has been years of underdevelopment, punctuated by bursts of communal groups who build rural roads, fund schools & hospitals. 3/

Our generation, living through this misnomer of power imbalance initially tried to play d ostrich, focusing on Techs, Finance & careers but social media came calling

At first, bants & skits dominated d spaces, but soon, d injustices of a failing state were too big to ignore. 4/

Then the crevices irredeemably parted when Deborah Samuel, a young Christain woman who allegedly complained that her class WhatsApp was being filled with religious messages instead of school stuffs was mu#dered, maybe with no foreseeable consequences. 5/

Thus, her fellow Shehu Shagari College of Education students unilaterally pronounced her guilty of blasphemy according to Sharia Laws, mobbed her, lynched her and burnt her to death in Sokoto - gloating as they captured it camera. 6/

The babarity & impunity of the actions plus the high-level defences put up by powerful voices & Islamic groups across the country, were illuminating for many young people.

While some Northern youths protested d alleged arrests of some of the k!llers, Southerners held debates 7/

- the shock was widespread, esp with d whataboutisms and redlines reiterated by some learned Muslim elites on Twitter Spaces

One Nigeria has turned to #DivideNigeria #Restructuring etc on d lips of many young people.

Japa has become the one common denominator of many youths. 8/

These are certainly not ingredients for nation building, it is glaring that patriotism is fast dying because Rule of Law, equity, justice & fairness to all are grossly lacking in d country. Instead, anarchy looms because of d preponderance of non-state actors & unsatisfactory 9/

government responses.

Before politicians say these are online noisemakers, 109.4 m (51%) Nigerians are online as at January 2022. Many may not speak but d voices are d same. The injustices cannot be accepted.

If Nigeria is for all, restructuring to give power to d regions, -10

and promoting regional devt. must be priorities, otherwise, outright division or disintegration is inevitable.

The mere rhetoric of One Nigeria will no longer cut it - not in this generation.

CC: SOUTHERN NIGERIA LEADERS
#ConveneSouthernNigeriaConference #HumanityAbovePolitics