“When this training first started, the tension was so glaring. The Hausa people were sitting in one corner, you see Igbo in another corner, the Oduduwa people also sitting in one part of the hall, but two days into the training, people have started mingling together. We now see ourselves as one.”
The above comment was a declaration from one of the participants at the just concluded five-day training on non-violence and ethnic harmony organized for agitators from Arewa, Oduduwa, Biafra, the Miyyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), among others by the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN) which was held in Lagos.
The hall inside the Limeridge Hotel in Lekki, Lagos was very small but the gathering was described as not only mighty but epoch-making. The convivial atmosphere inside the hall says it all. There were banters, the cracking of jokes and riddles filled the air. The Fulani and Hausa entertained the Igbo, Biafran and Yoruba counterparts with their traditional folklore. The Igbo reciprocated. There was incredible display of love and affection.
This was the atmosphere at the closing ceremony of the five-day training programme which, from all indications, has been able to transform the agitators and participants. There was no better time to foster inter-tribal dialogue and collaboration than now when the tension is palpable across the country. The calls for secession and self-determination have been growing like a downpour from all corners of the country. From the Biafra, the Oduduwa Republic, the recent Arewa quit notice, Nigeria has never been so divided.
It was on this premise that Barr. Allen Onyema, the founder of FEHN and Chairman of Air Peace, one of Nigeria’s indigenous carriers, deployed his foundation which he used in bringing Niger Delta militants out of the creeks during the outset of amnesty to douse the current tension. The training which had facilitators from Emory University, Atlanta Georgia US and representatives of the US consulate in Nigeria in attendance ,would be followed by a visit of the participants to the US University for continuation of the training on non-violence and ethnic harmony.
Leaders of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative (ATEI), Miyyeti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACABAN), Oduduwa Republic, Concerned Igbo Unity Forum, ex-Niger Delta agitators, among other groups were selected to attend the training.
Onyema, the convener of the training, explained that it is worried by the seeming national tension over agitation, saying he is committed to restoring peace to the country.
He said, “It is my belief that without peace, there won’t be any progress, we need peace and justice in this country , and we can’t just leave the government and politicians to handle this issue alone.
“You don’t need to be a President or Governor before you contribute your quota to the development of your nation. So I am doing this for the love of my country. I am doing this to make this country achieve its potential ,and we can only do this where there is peace and justice.
His objective for the five-day training must have been achieved partially at the end of the five days, given the conviviality and camaraderie displayed by the participants at the closing ceremony which made him to become emotional in his presentation.
The Igbo participants gave a present to the Arewa group while the former also reciprocated. Also of note was the presentation of a Fulani cap to the immediate younger brother of IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu, Prince Emmanuel Kanu amidst applause and excitement by the participants.
To Onyema, a new Nigeria is possible. He said the present tension and hate speeches emanating from all the nooks and crannies of the country cannot stop in one night, but peace is imminent in this country.
Ifunaya Anayo from Concerned Igbo Unity Forum says prior to her participation in the programme, she had a negative opinion about northerners ,but the programme has touched her life such that she now sees a northerner as her brother. “This non-violence training has touched me .I now see things differently. I only know about solution to a problem but I never knew about reconciliation but this programme has changed me. I am going back a new person”.
Kanu’s brother also declared the agitation by IPOB has never been about violence but a struggle to seek justice and equity for the Igbo people. Facing the Hausa and Fulani participants who decorated him with the herdsmen’s cap, he said, he now sees their problems as his. “Change is something that is very constant and it is coming into this country”, he said.
He added in an interview with our correspondent: “Like we have always done, IPOB is a non-violent movement. We want to make it known to the entire world that IPOB is a non-violent movement.
“Nobody is against the unity of Nigeria as a matter of fact. What Nnamdi Kanu is talking about is that he wants you to be a free people and what Nnamdi Kanu is very concerned about is to attack those policies that are affecting us as a people. Of course, you and I will agree that we have got it wrong, the system is completely wrong. We need a new system that would work, we need a new system that would favour everyone in terms of equity and justice for everybody. My message is for people to remain non-violent. Agitation is allowed anywhere in the world.”
Also the President of Arewa Transformation Group, Comrade Mohammad Danjuma said the participants have resolved to work together as a group ,in galvanizing the government to address the major problem of poverty and unemployment bedeviling the nation.
He said, “For me it (the training) is a very critical fulcrum in our experience of nationhood. It has broadened our horizon even beyond Arewa to see how we can embrace our brothers from across the divides to ensure that we redesign our work towards building a true, peaceful united Nigeria where justice is equal for all ,because everybody has a right just as it is enshrined in the constitution to be a part of this journey and to live anywhere in the country.
“We have learnt from this training that you would not achieve anything through abrasive force or through confrontational means. Through the philosophy of non-violence, dialogue, engagement, you can achieve more ,while we collectively fight for each other for our justice. One thing you would agree with me is that poverty, unemployment, and all those vices bedeviling everybody don’t know our ethnicity, it doesn’t know our religion, it doesn’t care where we live. If you have malaria, there is no Igbo malaria or Hausa malaria. It is the same thing that worries all of us.”
However, what is of paramount importance and a consensus at the training is to relate the message back to their followers. This was a charge the founder of the foundation gave to them. Onyema said, “When the leadership begins to understand issues, things will change. We need to carry this vision down the ladder to members of our group. We need the understanding of everybody. We charge you to be that change we are looking for. The change must begin with me and you. I thank you for agreeing to make Nigeria great. Let the spirit blossom. We will go and come back with renewed vigour to spread our wings from Calabar to Maiduguri, and capture this country in our crusade for peace and non-violence. We stand to gain a lot living together. We have not actually tapped into our potentials. What we need is peace and we can develop our tourism. The north is so rich culturally that we can begin to export the culture. The north has an amiable traditional culture. Why can’t we develop the Sultanate Council for instance? Tourists want to come but they need assurance that there is peace.”
Dr. Bernard Lafayette, the lead facilitator urged the participants to turn their experience into a book. He advised them to live and act by the principle of non-violence even in the face of provocation. “When you get angry, find a chair or seat, sit down and cheer up. When you get quiet in the face of provocation, you take away their power, you attack the force of people, and not them. You don’t snap at them. There is what we call stimulus response. Don’t stimulate your opponents to respond. Allow them to wear themselves out. Strike back with love.”
Also in her remarks, Maria Davydenko, the Political Officer of United States Consulate General asked the participants about the “heaviest thing in this world”. She said, “It is the weight of your potentials. You need one another to lift it.”
