Of all Nigerian political elite, our current military-baked ‘new-breed’ politicians have come to be regarded by most Nigerians as the most cynical.  Twenty-six years into the Fourth Republic, Nigerians remember with nostalgia that not even the departing colonial British administrators were this contemptuous.

Unlike our founding fathers that put their differences and individual ambition aside to foist a working federal constitution which defined how we were to live together in peace and justice, as brothers even though tribes and tongue may differ, our current leaders, driven more by greed for power and its dividends, have continued to take Nigerians for a ride. Thinking they could decree unity or wish away tribes, forgetting that tribes are the building blocks of African society, they have wasted billions of taxpayers’ money tinkering with our current unworkable ‘unitary’ constitution. They have done everything except revisiting the national question, which is about the challenges of living together in justice and respect as civilised human beings as was the case until January1966.

Of course, we have had different administrations, including that of President Obasanjo, who probably genuinely believed attainment of economic justice, equitable allocation of resources, and effective and sustainable production and distribution of appropriate goods and services is the ultimate solution to the national question. But we have seen how this was marred by massive looting of the nation’s resources under Obasanjo and Jonathan, especially by those who saw undermining the nation’s economy as an answer to distributive injustice arising from non-resolution of the national question.

We have also seen the effort of the current administration of Tinubu, who believes promoting efficiency within the existing structure will usher in all-round prosperity and life abundant for people of Nigeria, leading to equitable and peaceful cohabitation of the various communities in Nigeria. Even while the jury is out, there is already a basic misconception that leaders of ethnic nationalities in Nigeria who are at different levels of cultural development want life more abundant for their citizens.

It is just as well that the House of Representatives, last Tuesday, rejected a constitutional amendment bill seeking to rotate the office of the president and vice president among the six geopolitical zones of the country. Deputy Minority Leader Aliyu Madaki led the opposition to the bill, saying that issues the bill intends to cure have been addressed by the Federal Character Commission, warning that the issue of rotation should not be included in the constitution, but allowed to remain the way it is.

The dead proposed bill was at best diversionary. The truth is that rotation of the presidency, like past social engineering efforts of the military, including NYSC, quota system of admission into tertiary institutions and bureaucracy, and other government brainwaves turned into government policies in a desperate attempt to ignore the national question, would have failed.

 Zero sum struggles for power at the centre is a symptom of our unresolved national question, just as it is a phenomenon associated with our new-breed politicians.

With our independence constitution, which indeed addressed the national question, the centre was not as attractive. Ahmadu Bello did not think twice before ceding it to Tafawa Balewa, a minority from southern Bauchi, where the Fulani were only being tolerated. Zik had a chance to be prime minister at the centre, but conceded it to Tafawa Balewa, according to him, to promote the unity of the country. The only national leader that seriously aspired to go to the centre, ostensibly to replicate his miracle in the west, was Obafemi Awolowo. And having lost the 1959 election, he offered to serve as Finance Minister under Zik.

That the north has since 1954 dominated the centre was not an accident. At the 1950 Ibadan constitutional debate, the North’s demand for control of fifty percent of members of the House of Representatives, which was not informed by the population factor, as a condition for remaining a part of Nigerian federation, was acceptable to all stakeholders, including the outgoing colonial government, which was ready to do anything to accommodate their preferred successors.

The northern leaders, who never hid their desire to belong only to Nigeria they could control, got what they wanted. The Yoruba, being federalist by nature, wanted a federal constitution or regionalism where the centre will not interfere in how they manage their own affairs The Igbo, a landlocked nation with hostile neighbours, canvassed for a unitary system for a multicultural and heterogeneous society. But in the end, they succumbed to the superior argument of the British umpires, including Oliver Stanley, who reminded them that Nigeria is a multicultural and multilingual society where ethnic nationalities were at different levels of cultural development.

That the age of ‘divine right of Kings’ ended around 1600 did not stop northern leaders from developing a mindset of being born to rule. There was, therefore, continued insistence by the northern hegemonic class including Ahmadu Bello, who according to Clark, swore he would never support southern leaders with real executive power. There was also the late elder statesman, Maitama Sule, Nigeria former permanent representative to the United Nations, who said,” Everyone has a gift from God. The Northerners are endowed by God with leadership qualities. The Yoruba man knows how to earn a living and has diplomatic qualities. The Igbo are gifted in commerce, trade and technology.”  Similarly, not too long ago, the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, tried to justify the northern monopoly of power on the grounds that the north has the population, especially if we accept that democracy is a game of numbers.

Except for the new-breed politicians of the Fourth Republic that breed nothing but corruption, I am not sure old politicians from the east and the west envied the north for its monopoly of power that has brought nothing but misery to the northern masses.

As for the east, despite being out of power but serving only as ever- willing bride to the northern hegemonic group to satisfy the demand of politics of participation and identification, the east was adjudged the fastest growing economy in the world in the early sixties. The west, which accepted its role as that of opposition, was ahead of the two other regions, paying higher minimum wage than even the federal government and sending more western region youths on foreign scholarship than the colonial master ever did for the whole of Nigeria in three years.

What made all the difference was the independence constitution, which not only provided an answer to the national question by defining how we live as human beings in control of different culture, language and the education of their children, but also allowed groups/regions to develop at their own pace without interference from others.

But the coalition partners made up of the hegemonic ruling cast in the north and their ever-willing bride were envious of the independence and giant strides of the western region. They, in breach of the constitution, interfered in the affairs of the west. In 1962, Chief SL Akintola, the premier of the west, was removed from power by 82 votes to 29 for anti-party offences. Chief Adegbenro was constitutionally sworn in as replacement. Premiers Ahmadu Bello and Okpara refused to recognise him as stipulated by the constitution, despite the Privy Council judicial pronouncement that upheld the action of the governor of western region.  A subsequent attempt to pass a vote of confidence in Adegbenro at the western house was resisted by a few NCNC members who started throwing chairs. This was all the coalition partners who did not declare a state of emergency in the north or in the east, where there had been Tiv popular uprising and Isaac Boro insurrection suppressed by the military, needed to declare a state of emergency in the west.

With the declaration of a state of emergency, Awo was detained in mosquito-infested Lekki while Akintola was installed premier of the west without an election. While in detention, Awo was charged with treasonable felony – attempt to overthrow her majesty’s government and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The military finally intervened in January 19666 to end the First Republic while the ‘living’ constitution was thrown into the dustbin.

While our current new-breed leaders play the ostrich, concerned Nigerians stakeholders are saying if we don’t know where we are going after 59 years in the wilderness, it makes sense to return to where the rain started to beat us.  It is for this reason many Nigerians believe we had more freedom and attracted more respect from the colonial masters than our new-breed politicians that have since the beginning of the Fourth Republic swindled Nigerians of billions of naira on self-serving periodic constitutional review without addressing the fundamental issue of the national question.

We all know that our current crisis of nation building, including the Boko Hara insurgency, immigrant Fulani herdsmen criminals, bandits, kidnapping for ransom, massive corruption, are all but symptoms of the unresolved national question.