By Tatalo Alamu 12 hours 52 minutes ago Font size:    •Aregbesola
Events unfolding in Nigeria suggest that the state has reached the end of its historic tether. At the moment, the Nigerian state is no better than an armed robbers' congregation. As revealed by the various probes, the scale and magnitude of looting suggest not just a total breakdown of the nation's ethical grid but a collapse of the mental order which underpins all rational societies. Without any exaggeration, this is a new form of elite dementia that would have made Frantz Fanon cringe in shame and mortification. Anti-social deviants are on the prowl in even the most sacred sanctuaries of governance. Outside the hallowed precincts, violent robbing, kidnapping, fire-bombing, economic heists, political assassinations and religious mayhems have become the order of the day. A national consensus is emerging that we cannot continue like this. Something will have to give in this whirlpool of irrationality. Unfortunately, while many concerned and patriotic Nigerians are burning the midnight oil looking for a way out of the anti-federalist gridlock, others are resorting to cheap blackmail, accusing proponents of a return to the old regionalism of nursing a secessionist agenda. The recent futile attempts to demonise Rauf Aregbesola, the governor of Osun State, come to mind. But blackmail has never and will never prevent people from thinking about the dire state of their country. Neither will it stop an idea whose time has come. The statist, centralising resolution of the current Nigerian crisis could have come about in only two forms: Either through a world-historic coup which would completely eliminate the current ruling class, or through some epochal social and political upheaval with an avenging messiah at the vanguard. The current social configurations of the nation make the second option unavailable while the military option has been rendered historically passé by emerging local and global trends. In our circumstances, a return to regionalism is the most humane and civilised option of nudging the nation towards a better telos and of returning the Nigerian state to the path of righteousness and rectitude. Federalism has never been a tea party. It is defined and refined in dynamic action and contention. At this very moment, the American federal authorities are in court to prevent the state of Arizona from overreaching itself over immigration laws. That is true federalism in process. This morning we publish our concluding remarks at the South West Legislative Forum held in Ibadan on February 14. A nation is a permanent work in progress. No nation can be sustained when its "contents" undermine and subvert its "form". This is why nation-building is always a push-and pull affair. Nigerians are invited to judge who the real secessionists are between those clamouring for a beneficial change and those insisting on the current unviable and unworkable torture colony. |
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