MOURNING THE THINGS THAT WEREN'T

I wish the British left us as the Northern and Southern protectorates that they met us as when they came in 1846 without amalgamating us to become Nigeria in 1914. We most probably wouldn’t have had ethnicity and religion as foremost problems now.

I wish the January 1966 coup was completely successful. I wish Madiebo didn’t successfully convince Nzeogwu not to take the fight to Ironsi after the latter had taken control of the government in Lagos. With the blueprint the coup-plotters had mapped out for Nigeria, we most likely would have had an economy similar to Russia and China’s by now if that blueprint was executed to the letter.

I wish Ironsi had kept the end of the bargain he made with Nzeogwu before the latter surrendered to him. If Ironsi had kept the deal, Awolowo and the rest of the imprisoned Southern opposition would have been released; the families of the slain victims of the January 1966 coup would have been taken care of by the government and the subsequent May 1966 riots and July 1966 coup may never have occurred.

I wish Gowon did not back out of the agreements of the January 1967 Aburi Accord. I also wish Ojukwu had prepared well for the war before declaring secession. I ultimately wish the two young Army leaders found other ways to resolve the Igbos’ and Nigeria’s problems without having to go to the battlefield. All that blood shed wouldn’t have happened, and the Igbos wouldn’t have had to start life from the scratch again.

I wish Murtala Mohammed wasn’t assassinated as early in office as he was. In spite of being part of the old breed, he did look like he took the business of ridding Nigeria of corruption seriously.

I also wish Buhari had stayed longer in power, but with less harassment by his soldiers to the masses on the streets. I like the orderliness and sanity he brought to the Nigerian society, and the fight against corruption that he took seriously.

I wish very much that Babangida had not annulled the June 1993 elections. Yes, Abiola was part of the elite with government sources of income, but the people wanted him nevertheless. We would never know if Abiola would have made a good or bad president, but one thing is certain- Abacha would most likely have never been Head of State.

I wish Obasanjo didn’t have to poke his nose too much into the 2007 elections, even making it a do-or-die affair. I understand that he needed his own people- who surely wouldn’t probe him after his tenure- to replace him. But handpicking two weaklings- one in physical appearance, the other in mental judgment- and imposing them on us be our leaders is a grave injustice he did to Nigerians who gave him the privilege of leading us.

I wish Yar’Adua had lived longer in office. Even as frail as he appeared, he seemed like he had good intentions for Nigeria, having done very well as governor in Katsina for eight years. I wish he completed his four-year tenure at least before he died.

I wish Jonathan had allowed the North to complete their leadership tenure after Yar’Adua died. I don’t think it would have been seen as weakness or too much to ask of him if he had remained Vice President while a Northerner completes Yar’adua’s tenure; after all, that was PDP’s agreed rotation plan. If that had happened, maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t have had all these lawlessness on our hands and all the slain and abducted would have been alive and fine by now.