Saturday 11 November 2017

IT IS ONE WORLD

This is not always obvious.
About two decades ago, Nigerians were so busy surviving the scourge that was Gen Abacha that even yours sincerely was completely oblivious of the happenings in Rwanda. The mea culpas have been quite loud all the way from then US President Bill Clinton to your typical human rights activist. Everyone had, like Levites and Pharisees, looked the other way.
On the global stage, everybody, the media and prime time comedians included, has recently been drawing attention to the travails of the Rohingya in hands of the Myanmar government and military. The response from the UN has been rather tepid and convoluted. What is on everyone's lips is when Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyee will weigh in on behalf of the oppressed.
Nearer home in Nigeria, the nation seems evenly divided between those who brazenly support the executive lawlessness of militarist President Muhammadu Buhari in meeting the challenge by some Ndigbo in general and IPOB in particular for a referendum for #Biafra, and those who condemn it. Even if we were to discount the Boko-Haram operations and occupation of parts of Nigeria's north-east, it would be wrong to conclude that there is peace, equity and amity everywhere else in the neighbourhood.
For a hegemonistic military oriented government of the type run by Gen Buhari, it would not appear politically correct to even acknowledge the turbulence in Southern Cameroon over the past two odd decades. It would appear that the Nigerian press had essentially been practisong self-censorship on this storyline.
Since I grew up in Enugu from 1957 when the Endeleys and the Fonchas were holding sway with Zik, MI Okpara, Imoke, Emole, etc, I cannot pretend not to know those who are the receiving end of President Paul Biya's policies. Truly it was only yesterday that I read the word Ambazonia for the very first time. It will not be surprising if Buhari seeks a Mutual Assistance and Defence Treaty with Paul Biya's Cameroon in order to checkmate their common enemies. Nigeria's spineless Senate will readily ratify such a move without batting an eye, ie without debate. Do not say that I didn't warn you. That would be a full rewound back to 1968. Only with different actors.
Gowon would love this!
Deja vu.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambazonia


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