Say No To 'OKPETU' For A United Nigeria

Can you imagine being in a twin-engine airplane that's running on one engine because the other is faulty, and the one that is running is experiencing serious "Okpetu" (a problem), while the passengers onboard are fighting to prove their supremacy, notwithstanding the imminent danger of the plane? Who can guarantee their safety in a plane headed for a crash-landing?

Just the other day, I was traveling from Bonny Island to Port Harcourt on a boat. It was raining, and we had a bad engine, with the captain trying all he could to rectify the problem. We were on a troubled part of the water—whether to call it sea or river can be confusing when it comes to the Bonny waters. Then, all of a sudden, one of the passengers onboard, for reasons I’m still trying to fathom, said he was going to beat up the captain. As it turned out, there had been a heated argument between them. This chap, as I learned right then, was a leader of one of the fraternities in the universities and notorious for troublemaking. I said to him, “What sense would it make to beat the captain in this situation?” I made him understand that if he must fight, beat, or do whatever he decides to do to the captain, he should wait until we get onshore.

It’s amazing how people think. Whether with their head or with their emotions, only their actions reveal.

The foregoing brings to mind the recent violence in the northern part of Nigeria, erupting from a purported insult to Prophet Mohammed of the Muslim faith by a Christian.

Nigeria is presently at a crossroads, a decisive period where whatever we do can either spell doom or otherwise. At this juncture in our nationhood, it would be utter foolishness and endemic ignorance to fan the embers of hate and disunity. We are going through a lot of "Okpetu" (problems) that are threatening our unity as a nation. Ideally, one would expect Nigerians to avoid escalating these problems to a point where the Nigerian plane crash-lands or the boat capsizes.

Let me take this opportunity to call on my fellow enlightened compatriots from Northern Nigeria to rise to the occasion and reach out to their fellows in the North who are easily provoked to perpetrate and perpetuate violence without a justifiable reason. It’s time we acted wisely if we are to sail together in this boat called Nigeria to our preferred destination. The task before us is not easy, but it is achievable if we act consciously and deliberately to enlighten our fellows to the point where their stereotyped notions are disabused from their mindsets. We’ve got to show that we truly believe in the unity of Nigeria and Nigerians, irrespective of regional, sectional, ethnic, religious, or other divides.

May God bless Nigeria and all well-meaning Nigerians.