NATIONAL INTEGRATION: THE GANDHI STORY
Once in India, there was a set of people living in some villages;
sleeping on the ground as they had no bed to sleep on. They had no running
water. Their cows slept in the same little huts and little rooms with them. If
they had chickens, the chickens slept in the same room too. They relatively had
no comfort of life. Those people were the untouchables. The caste system had
existed for years. These were the people who worked the hardest, and they were
trampled over by the Indian people themselves.
Mahatma Gandhi looked at this system and couldn’t stand it. He looked at
his own people and said, “Now you have selected me, and you’ve asked me to free
you from the political domination and economic exploitation inflicted upon you
by Britain, and here you are, trampling over and exploiting seventy million of
your brothers.” So, he decided that he would never adjust to that system and
that he would speak and stand up against it for the rest of his life.
The first thing he did was to adopt an untouchable girl as his daughter.
His wife, a member of one of the high castes, thought he was crazy. She said,
“What in the world are you doing adopting an untouchable? We are not supposed
to touch these people.” He said, “I am going to have this young lady as my
daughter.” He brought her into his ashram, and she lived there. He demonstrated
in his own life that untouchability had to go.
One day, Mahatma Gandhi stood before his people and said, “You are
exploiting these untouchables. Even though we are fighting with all that we
have of our bodies and our souls to break loose from the bondage of the British
Empire, we are exploiting these people and we are taking their selfhood and
their self-respect.” He said, “I will refuse to eat until the leaders of the
caste system will come to me with the leaders of the untouchables and say that
there will be an end to untouchability and the Hindu temples of India will open
their doors to the untouchables.” And so he refused to eat as days passed.
Finally, when Gandhi was about to breathe his last breath, and his body
was all but gone, a group from the untouchables and a group from the Brahmin
caste came to him and signed a statement saying that they would no longer
adhere to the caste system. The Priest of the temple came to him and said, “Now
the temples will be opened to the untouchables.” That afternoon, untouchables
from all over India went into the temples and all these thousands and millions
of people put their arms around the Brahmin and people of other castes.
Hundreds of millions of people who had never touched each other for two
thousand years were now singing and praising together. This was a great
contribution Mahatma Gandhi brought about.
This story points out the indispensable role of leadership in national
integration. It took the moral leadership of Mahatma Gandhi to influence the
leadership of the Brahmin caste and the leadership of the untouchables to
re-align.
How can Nigeria learn from this to achieve our national unity?
History has thrust upon our generation an indescribably important
destiny - to complete a process of integration which our nation has so long
developed too slowly, but which is our most powerful opportunity for
development. The clamour for convening a Sovereign National Conference by the
Federal Government is over a decade and half old. The purpose is for all parts
of our national existence to come together, deliberate on the subject of unity
and how we hope to move our nation forward. But the Federal Government as
severally constituted has given several excuses to decline this call. The
question to ask is, is there no other way out for our integration other than
through a Sovereign National Conference?
From the Gandhi story, national unity substantially needs leadership to
become a reality. Leadership as we all will agree has influenced or compounded
the situation in the nation at one point or the other. Now, what we have are
leaders of various ethnic groups making public pronouncements that they are
first members of their ethnic groups before being Nigerians. I wonder what more
could threaten national unity than such statements.
Worthy of note however is the fact that we have followers in this country
who have a default mode of loyalty. Where their
leaders go, they go. This is a clear proof that leadership is influence. So
ethnic groups are in conflict because leaders are in conflict; whether they incite
it or overlook it. People of different religions can peacefully co-exist with
the influence of religious leaders and Nigeria can operate in peaceful co-existence
if leaders allow it.
However, it is essential to note that several factors, positive or negative,
influence the thoughts and deeds of leaders. They include pride or humility,
greed or selflessness, experience or in-experience, personality type, wisdom,
counsel, loyalty to a few at the expense of the populace, power wooziness,
bribery and corruption, to mention a few. But in all, the essence of leadership
is to work for the good of the people, promote a safe and better environment
for all and give hope to all. Success in leadership demands priority to
leadership than the leaders themselves.
As we have noted earlier, leadership is influence. It may be necessary
to attempt to identify leaders that can be instrumental in achieving national
integration in Nigeria. In no particular order, they include:
1.
The Nigerian
President
2.
Senate
President
3.
Speaker of the
House of Representatives
4.
Governors’
Forum
5.
Elder
Statesmen
6.
The Judiciary
7.
Christian
Association of Nigeria
8.
Pentecostal
Fellowship of Nigeria
9.
Islamic
Society of Nigeria
10. Yoruba
Council of Elders
11. Arewa
Consultative Forum
12. Northern Nigeria Leaders
13. Ohaneze
Ndigbo
14. Ijaw
National Congress and other ethnic group leaders
15. Royal
heads and Chiefs
16. Civil
Society Leaders
17. Community Leaders
18. Youth
Leaders
This list is not exhaustive, but those mentioned will go a long way in
helping to achieve national integration. It is important to state that before
we talk about integration at the national level, there is need for re-alignment
at the regional levels because when neighbouring ethnic groups are not in
alignment, national integration will be cosmetic.
On the way forward, it would have been remarkable if we had someone with
the Gandhi influence in Nigeria. But in the absence of such, it will be
laudable for the Nigerian President to take responsibility for this integration
project. Reconciliation is an indispensable pre-requisite for growth and
massive development, hence the need for a National Reconciliation Agenda. The
President may set up a National Integration Committee to facilitate this.
Bearing in mind the list of leaders above, it will be auspicious to
phase the integration project. The first phase should be at the geo-political
zone level. The facilitating committee should work with leaders in each
geo-political zone for reconciliation, harmonisation and peaceful co-existence.
After this has proved to be substantially productive, the integration at
the national level may be organized with leaders representing parts of each
geo-political zone. When the spirit of reconciliation and integration at the
geo-political levels has penetrated and permeated the leaders and is yielding
results, integration at the national level will be a lot easier.
Ultimately, Nigeria will become a united nation where though there are
over 250 ethnic groups; there will be a sense of common nationalism. The
Federal character principle will no longer be pronounced. We will have a
Nigeria where I will be a Nigerian first before asserting the fact that I am a
Yoruba man. We will be able to live to the true meaning of the creed contained
in the introduction of our Constitution which states that-
WE THE PEOPLE of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria:
HAVING firmly and solemnly resolved:
TO LIVE in unity and harmony as one
indivisible and indissoluble sovereign Nation under God dedicated to the
promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation
and understanding:
AND TO PROVIDE for a Constitution for the
purpose of promoting good government and welfare of all persons in our country
on the principles of freedom, equality and justice and for the purpose of
consolidating the unity of our people:
Indeed, there is amazing power in unity. When we have true unity, every
effort to disunite us will only strengthen our unity. We will be wrapped in a
single garment of destiny. Whatever happens to one will be viewed as happening
to all. The proverb that says, ‘The first camel on the line moves as quickly as
the last’ - whatever affects anyone of us has effect on every one of us - will
be our spirit.
Having an understanding of our individual ethnic uniqueness and an
agreement to achieve a common purpose as a people will aid love, tolerance and
hospitality in the nation. From this, we will be able to have a consensus on
how best to move our nation forward with dedication and hard work.
This is an excerpt of the book titled, THE REBIRTH, A VISION FOR NIGERIA written by my humble self.
Olusola Akinyemi Esq.
President
Joseph Initiative Ltd/Gte
olusola.akins@gmail.com
08077726199
