In recent times there has been an increase in the call from the people of South West Nigeria for the convening of what they call a Sovereign National Conference, SNC. On the surface, that may seem impressive, even appealing, especially with the level of anxiety in people’s minds regarding the dire situation in Nigeria. Currently, people trapped inside Nigeria are eager to find quick fixes on how to dissolve the unworkable Nigerian union. When considering viable paths in and out of the death trap and dysfunctional insane asylum that is also known as the failed state of Nigeria, almost any suggestion appeals to people’s anxiety. But the appeal of a CNS lasts until you start reading further down the script. As you go down the page, you start to experience some discomfort. The stated goal of the much talked about SNC is to revise the terms of Nigeria’s corporate existence by the various federated nations that are held captive in the God-forsaken union. But this is not the time for mere reviews, as everyone knows what is the right thing to do: divide Nigeria along existing cultural/religious lines.

The defense of the SNC has its beginning in the political crisis of June 12, 1993, when Ibrahim Babangida canceled the supposed electoral victory of Moshood Abiola. It was used by the political elites of southwestern Nigeria to gain political attention and advantage, and ultimately the presidency of Nigeria. Like anything else Nigerian, SNC is a temporary or momentary answer to a very fundamental and permanent or recurring question. The question of why the cancellation happened and how to prevent it from happening in the future was never addressed. It is one of those temporary palliatives or political tricks used by the elite of the different political blocs of the Nigerian union to gain positions and power. Wool is thrown in the face of people with tricks to gain positions and take advantage of the ruling class to the detriment of the people. They are never intended to do permanent good for most people. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, played a similar card to win the Nigerian presidency from Goodluck Jonathan. That has also given birth to the current Boko Haram Islamic jihadist movement of northern Nigeria. With the various bombings and the destruction of lives, Boko Haram is playing the same card at the moment and hopes to win. But these games do not take the people or the country anywhere. They are deceitful and dishonest tricks that only benefit the ruling class with the loss and destruction of lives, property and the future of the people.

Strictly following the objective of the SNC, people will just sit today and talk about how to continue with a single Nigeria or dissolve the union. Of course, nothing definitive or beneficial would be achieved, then a new meeting would be called tomorrow that would say, let’s divide Nigeria or have a weak or strong center and so on. I don’t care how anyone thinks about it, but the truth is that an SNC with the current agenda is simply a device of some elements that are hell-bent on maintaining Nigeria’s murderous status quo. In my opinion, the CNS is compared to when you try to tunnel through a mountain and remove some rocks every couple of years. These defenders are trying to buy time while, meanwhile, Igbo/Biafrans and other Christians are being killed by One-Nigeria. SNC is like trying to circumnavigate the long and dangerous terrain instead of using the short and less painful route (separation or self-determination of the various federated ethnic nations). CNS advocates go on to say, “Hey, let’s make a little tweak here and there and eventually we’ll get it right one day.” For them, they are not in a hurry to get it right in the short term since they have little or nothing to lose. It is not the people on the side of the SNC defenders who are being killed. Your progress and development are not being stunted; They are fine by all standards. Therefore, they can afford to buy time indefinitely.

Any sincere and honest political movement must always be aimed at doing a greater good for a greater number of people on a permanent basis. And now is the time to use that approach to deal with the situation in Nigeria. Nigerian societies today have some fundamental and permanently irreconcilable differences. These differences underline the very basis of the existence of any society. It strikes at the very heart of a society’s reason for being and its collective aspiration. If they got it right, then everything will be fine for them, but if they got it wrong, like in the Nigerian situation, then everything will still be wrong. The worldview of the various peoples that make up the current Nigerian state is antagonistically opposed and cannot be reconciled. The culture/religion of a people is the essence of their being or what defines them and the various ethnic components of today’s Nigeria cannot be reconciled. It will continue to be a waste of time, lives and material resources to continue pursuing a Nigerian agenda that can never work. The only honest, sincere and permanent good that will be done to the people who bear the brunt of the callous insistence on keeping unworkable-Nigeria is a clear division of the country. Let each group with a similar cultural/religious worldview go their separate ways and begin their nation-building journey.

At this time of day the peoples of the Southeast cannot afford a SNC with their current agenda or so-called “true federalism.” Not even the almost fifty year old Aburi Agreement will do the Igbo/Biafran any good now. There can only be one new and viable roadmap today: Self-Determination. If the supposed purpose of the SNC remains simply to decide at the table how the peoples that make up Nigeria will co-exist or maintain a weak or strong center, then for the southeast it is a waste of time. The position of the people of the South East is that any solution to the Nigerian problem other than a clear division along natural national/ethnic borders is a waste of time, dishonest and insincere, cannot last and is unacceptable to them. The Igbo/Biafrans want full independence and freedom for Nigeria. They want an arrangement where they can only relate to the rest of the Nigerian components as neighbors and citizens of different countries and nothing more. This is the age of self-determination and Igbo/Biafran Christians will make the most of the moment to free themselves from the slavery of Nigeria.

Igbo/Biafran people will not be fooled by anything that seems real. By all accounts, the calls to SNC remain nothing less than another hoax masquerading as family quarters, at best a delaying tactic. The southeast is not interested in any Nigerian weak or strong center arrangement. Today’s Igbo people will not do the job halfway and will leave generations to come to continue dealing with the same problem as a Nigeria. No, the partition between India and Pakistan in 1947 and the partition between Sudan and South Sudan in 2011 are the examples followed by the Igbo/Biafran. It is also interesting to note that these countries as mentioned were also colonized by the British. The only difference is that when the British left, the people of these countries were honest, sincere and bold enough to return to their old conducive, convenient and cultural/religious pre-colonial borders. They never had to maintain any kind of nonsensical “true federalism” or childish sentimental “weak/strong center.” They chose the path of wisdom, the path of dignity, the part of permanent peace, the path of respect for the sanctity of human life, and the path of progress and development. They boldly did the right thing by walking the honorable path of Self-Determination. These countries chose the only reasonable and dignified path; a clear and complete separation and independence from each other, instead of sticking together and killing each other. No one is bound to win in any ridiculous and piecemeal approach to Nigeria’s festering diversity problem. All honest and sincere players in the Nigerian arena have long agreed that there is only one solution: self-determination or the Sudan/South Sudan solution is the only option available to Nigeria. It can only be delayed, but it can never be wished away.