The number one problem plaguing Nigeria is not
corruption or even the absence of regular power. The
number one problem militating against the progress of
Nigeria is her lack of unity.

If we can fix this problem, Nigeria will herself be fixed.
In The Old Testament of The Bible, which Christians
accept as the Divine scripture, God spoke about
mankind in Genesis 11:6 thus: “If as one people
speaking the same language they have begun to do
this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for
them.”

Similarly, The Holy Quran, the Divine scripture of
Muslims also states: “Do not quarrel among
yourselves lest you lose heart and your momentum
disappear.” -Quran 8:46 .

From the above, it is clear that we can never have a
Nigeria that fulfils her full potential when we have a
divided Nigeria. Not only will we lose momentum as
The Quran shows us, but we will also lose our
possibilities as the The Bible teaches us.

An objective look at history will show that without
exception, all nations or regions that have expelled
people from their landmass on the basis of race,
religion or political affiliation have been the poorer for
it, whether you are talking of the Alhambra Decree
which purged Jews from Spain in 1492, or of more
recent events like the purge of Asians from Uganda in
1972 .

Nigerians may recall the ‘Ghana Must Go’ purge of
1983 which led to the forced departure of over a
million Ghanaians from Nigeria. Nigeria lost many
skilled workers and small businesses when the
Ghanaians left. But they went home and developed
their country and today Ghana is the top destination
for Nigerians wishing to study abroad.

Because of how these immigrants helped develop and
organise their country, there are today over a quarter
of a million Nigerians in Ghana and the Ghanaians
have coined the phrase ‘Nigerians Are Coming’ to
identify this phenomenon.

We must learn from history. We do not have to repeat
history. We must learn from the mistakes of other
people. As Albert Einstein famously said: the definition
of insanity is to do the same thing and expect a
different result.

It would be insane if a nation that once sang the song
of ‘Go On With One Nigeria’ should be seen to be
singing a new and absurd song of ‘Go On Without
Some Nigerians’.

What that would mean is that the sacrifices of the
millions of men, women and children who died in the
process of keeping Nigeria one would have been a
sacrifice made in vain.

This would negate the lines in our National Anthem
which read:
The labour of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain
It will be an even greater shame that if after we are all
united to condemn the xenophobic attacks in South
Africa, we hypocritically turn around and treat our own
kith and kin even worse.

We have six geopolitical zones in Nigeria and I was
one of those that participated in bringing this about at
the 1995 Constitutional Conference. The reasoning
behind this is the awareness that none of us is as
great as all of us.

Our six zones each have six strengths, but our one
Nigeria together has six hundred strengths.

You do not believe me? Look at the Nigerian football
teams that have won the Olympic Gold Medal, The
Africa Cup of Nations, the team that won the maiden
edition of FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1985 and the team
that qualified for our very first FIFA World Cup in 1994.
It took a combination of Nigerians from all zones to
pull these feats. The struggle of Nigeria in 2017 is not
a struggle between North and South, rather, it is a
struggle between good and evil.

It would not be possible for Nigeria to exist as one
corporate entity comprising the six geopolitical zones
if this were not the plan of God. If this is the plan of
The Almighty, and it evidently is, then whose plan
would it be to cause division in what God has united?
What did Nabi Isa (Jesus Christ say) say in Matthew
19:6?

“What therefore God has joined together, let not man
put asunder.”

Let us think long and deep on this.

A while ago Emanuel Cleaver said there is more power
in unity than in division. Some very clever people may
have discovered ways in which they can divide Nigeria,
but I am convinced that there are intelligent geniuses
and patriots amongst our people who can discover
ways to unite Nigeria and defeat their evil plans.

One of such people is Immaculata Onuigbo, a young
Nigerian from Enugu, who was recruited by the Shehu
Musa Yar’Adua Foundation at the very young age 10
and given a scholarship which eventually saw her
emerge as the best graduating student of the
American University of Nigeria, Yola with the highest
Cumulative Grade Point Average score in the school’s
history.

People like Miss Onuigbo, are the future of Nigeria and
the world. A product of pan-Nigerian collaboration.
Incidentally, she was discovered in Enugu, that great
metropolis that in 1956 elected a Northerner, Umaru
Altine, as its first elected mayor.

It is our history encapsulated in Umaru Altine and
our future in Immaculata Onuigbo that Nigeria needs.
What Nigeria does not need is negative voices who are
trying to uproot the shade-giving trees that people like
Felix Okonkwo and Aminu Kano planted to provide
cover for generations yet unborn.

One of the most inspiring stories I have read in recent
times are those of Sariki Yaro Danladi, Chairman
Northern Traditional Rulers Council South-east and
South-south and Ichie Uche Megwalu published in The
Nation of last Saturday.

Danladi, who also doubles as leader of the Hausa
community in Abia State was born, bred and married in
the state while Megwalu, 77-year-old Igbo leader has
made Kano home for over 60 years. The stories of
both men dot our landscape and bare eloquent
testimony of the spirit of the Nigeria that beckons.

As I write this, I am certain that Nigeria will not be
overcome by evil people, rather, the good people of
Nigeria will overcome evil and Nigeria will be better for
it.

TheCable