Truth is constant. It does not need colour or sweetener. The triumph of truth over falsehood is always a matter of time. And the truth President Muhammadu Buhari should know is that no one is happy in Nigeria today. People died in 2015 to see that there was change and Buhari was elected with the hope that things would improve. That hope is fading. Terrorists were killing people with bombs and bullets particularly in the northern parts of the country. Today, poverty is killing everyone all over the country. Bullet kills, poverty dehumanises. Today I have borrowed the title of DJM Muffet’s book:  “Let Truth Be Told.”

Buhari’s political base is not his home state of Katsina but Kano. The president’s highest votes always came from Kano, the most populous state, not city, in Nigeria. Kano has been a commercial centre since the time of the trans-Sahara trade of old. The ancient Kano market got burnt recently. Many people lost millions of naira worth of goods and property in the process. There was not even a visit of sympathy from the federal government, let alone some support. This is not good as the government has not shown sensitivity. Let truth be told.

The Boko Haram insurgency has reduced some parts of the north to Stone Age. The northern streets are meaner as a result. Poverty rate is higher. Over a year after the vote for change, there is no coherent, comprehensive initiative to reconstruct these areas or rehabilitate the victims, except some occasional food items distributed which unscrupulous officials use as a bait to sleep with some female victims; and no one has been punished for that. The other day, yours sincerely was discussing with a first-class Emir on the state of the nation. His Highness said since no one consults them before any appointment is made from their areas, and since none of these appointees is effectively representing the interests of the people, the north is also marginalized! Let truth be told.

For as long as Nigeria exists as it is, the Igbo are major stakeholders and cannot be ignored. They want what every other group wants: respect, recognition, peace and progress, not neglect. Like in the north, it is only a small number of them who benefited from the last regime while the majority were and are suffering. For the emergence of Buhari, they also contributed in their way. They have 6 million registered voters in the south-east but, to show their hatred for continuity, only half of that came out to vote. At a most critical period before the presidential election, one of Nigeria’s most respected diplomats, Ambassador Ignatius Olisemeka, came out in public to endorse Buhari. Apart from the south-east, the Igbo are the largest single ethnic group in the Niger Delta. They have been contributing to national development since Nigeria came into being. They coined the word “marginalization” to describe their relegation to the background, and they are indeed marginalised. Let truth be told.

The Niger Delta produces oil which is the main foreign exchange and revenue earner for the governments of the country. The misguided youth of the region are destroying pipelines and further polluting their already polluted – in fact, destroyed – environment. The destruction is due to frustration. They are disappointed with their leaders and frustrated with the government. However, the recently reconstituted NNPC Board has further exposed the insensitivity of the government. Otherwise, how can anyone justify the inclusion of only one member from the Niger Delta out of the nine board members? As a former oil minister and a general who served in the most national institution, the military, the president ought to show sensitivity to the diversity of the country. Let truth be told.

The Tiv are perhaps the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria. Apart from being in absolute majority in Benue, they are spread in Taraba and Nasarawa states. They voted massively for the ruling APC. They have not been effectively recognised. For the first time in Nigeria’s electoral history, Plateau voted for a Hausa-Fulani in the 2015 presidential election, and Buhari’s party also controls the Plateau State government. That performance has yet to be adequately acknowledged.

Some militants came out to oppose the Avengers who are fighting the federal government. These pro-government militants have not been recognized. Some senators came out in support of party supremacy and are supporting the executive. They are some of the poorest in the Senate today. Do those in charge now not know that to whom much is given much is expected and that politics is about reward here on earth and not in the hereafter? Let truth be told.

One of the greatest beneficiaries of the Nigerian confusion, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, recently joined the call for the “restructuring” of Nigeria. Many others have been making the same calls out of their frustration with what is happening in the country, especially in recent times. Personally, I do not know what they mean by “restructuring”. No one can increase the land or the size of Nigeria, as that is out of the question. It used to be a call for “sovereign” national conference, then “dialogue” or “constitutional conference”, even though during the PDP era alone there were two of such conferences. Now it is a call for “restructuring”. Like in Britain, why can’t candidates or parties campaign for that and get a proper mandate to do this magic formula of “restructuring”? Such fundamental issue requires the proper mandate of the people and not some elitist noise by renegade comrades. Let truth be told.

Nigeria came into being as a result of the amalgamation of the British Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914. And if it is going to be dismembered it will take the same A Farke, de-amalgamation, so that the two original parts go their ways. Since 1914, however, it became three regions, then four, then 12 states, then 19, 21, 30 and the present 36 states. This is all about restructuring, if I understand it correctly. But no restructuring can bring peace and progress to this country. The problem of Nigeria is not its structure but the greed of its elite. When they are stealing the national wealth like vultures feasting on carcass, there is no reference to ethnic or religious identities, but once any of them loses out they return to their ethno-religious cocoon to advocate utopian and unrealistic ideas. But no one is afraid of any de-amalgamation anymore; so no blackmail can work again, as many of those who are used to blackmail will know soon. Let truth be told.

Today the ruling party is feeling alienated; the National Assembly is feeling despised; the ministers are feeling frustrated; and the people are feeling disappointed. Consequently, all the country’s fault lines are getting exposed while various centripetal and centrifugal forces are pulling Nigeria in various directions. The world cannot wait for Nigeria. But it will be the greatest tragedy not only for the Black race but indeed for the entire world if this country is allowed to fail. And only Nigerians can save Nigeria, if they want to save it. We cannot afford to allow this to happen, not only as Nigerians or as Africans but indeed as human beings.

History is always on the side of the oppressed.