NATIONAL INTEGRATION: THE GANDHI STORY

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