KUNLE ODEREMI examines the various propositions being made by stakeholders in the country as the way forward against the background of some fresh national challenges, and prevent the country from drifting.

Everyone is beginning to talk tough. From key government functionaries to security chiefs, there is an element of fire in their utterances about the prevailing situation in the country.

Individuals and civil societies are equally spitting fire over the precarious condition of the Nigerian federation. Ethnic-based bodies and their main promoters are not left out, as they have also turned the heat on the authorities because of what they consider as the frightening state of the Nigerian project. Words like secession, retaliation, pogrom and other expressions that conjure fear and anarchy are being commonly used as people express their anger and frustration over the activities of the hydra-headed Boko Haram sect.

On the other hand, the concern of the authorities on the general instability in the system is amply underscored by the declaration of the military top hierarchy on Tuesday that the roadmap to peace was outside dialogue with members of Boko Haram, whose activities have become a delicate catalyst for the nation’s renewed search for unity and stability.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika, was quoted as saying, “Whatever measures we put in place, we would not get the best result and fast enough, unless the society  as a whole rejects terrorism. Those who try to justify acts of terrorism inadvertently support terrorists. And some do so only to discover later that terrorism is not a matter to be negotiated and won.” Ihejirika’s proclamation came on the heels of the steps being taken by a section of the international community, especially the United States, to assist the country in curbing the horrendous activities of the sect, which the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said had claimed almost 1,000 lives since 2010.

The grave implication of the activities of the sect can also be seen in the frenzied efforts lately by a number of senior citizens and organisations to douse tension and rekindle hope in the Nigerian project. Some Ijaw leaders along with a minister in the First Republic, Chief Edwin Clark, met about two weeks ago in Abuja and cautioned against any section of the country taking the rest for granted. South-East leaders, including state governors, have met several times within two weeks to express their concern over the precarious state of the nation largely because of the Boko Haram problem. The leaders have equally met with their South-South counterparts as part of ongoing wide consultations to build a national consensus on the way forward.   The concern of South-West leaders on the state of the nation, which had been expressed in many quarters, also climaxed last Saturday when they met with their South-South  counterparts at a meeting hosted by the matriarch of the Awolowo family, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, in Ikenne, Ogun State.

The 1999 Constitution provides a legal framework for Nigeria’s unity. It states sanctity of the federation. The document states in Section 1 under General Provisions in Part 1 that: “Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign State to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” However, all the ongoing meetings by senior citizens and other stakeholders affirm the expression of the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, that the country is already drifting. It indicates that it is gradually returning to the inglorious era of disunity, which precipitated a civil war some 30 years ago.

To douse the current raging fire, people have been propounding a number of theories as possible solution. Similarly, the United Nations and the United States of America have separately expressed deep concern on the state of affairs in the country and called on Nigerians to tread softly in the interest of national unity. The world body observed that Nigeria’s unity should not be trampled on because of the country’s position as “a regional linchpin.”

In a statement issued in Washington, the US State Department identified Nigeria’s ethnic heterogeneity as a source of strength and called for sobriety.

But while the authorities appear to have settled for military option in tackling the menace posed by Boko Horam, concerned citizens like Professor Soyinka believe the panacea for

peace and stability in the country is in convoking a national conference.  Soyinka said by resorting to monologue, the authorities were only scratching national problems on the surface. “We can even remove the word “sovereign,” but a national dialogue, there has to be. If you don’t have dialogue, you will have a monologue, a series of monologues that is deadly. Right now, we are undergoing a particularly destabilising and disorientating form of monologue. It is affecting everywhere, it is coming down here. It is already happening here in the South. This is one of the most horrendous aspects of monologue that we have encountered in our history. So, it is either a dialogue or a serial monologue in which people would use their own method. In dialogue, there is only one language; in monologue, you would have the language of Kalashnikovs, AK-47s, etc, “ Soyinka stated.

Other eminent persons under the aegis of such groups like the National Action Coalition (NAC) are of the view that whatever measures being taken to restore stability now would