Ebola Virus Disease and national unity

HOW can it be said that a deadly Ebola Virus Disease [EVD], imposed on Nigeria by “one mad man” from a foreign country is becoming a factor of unification for Nigerian? Can that be true? Does a thing like that exist? Can anything good come from Ebola Virus Disease? Save your answer or agitation for a while until we meet with someone important somewhere first.

President Goodluck Jonathan is a man not too often given to emotions. One good quality the man from Izon tribe of the Niger Delta possesses in abundance is the capacity to listen. He accommodates people in a pathological formant, even when the subject being discussed by his guest is not relevant to his thought. This quality of the man is more of inheritance. It is in his blood because the typical Izon man has an enduring “with-holding” and “shock-absorbing” capacity. This is why they are brave. They are daring and they are enduring even in the face of daunting excruciating situations like crises or wars.

In displaying this type  of characteristic, the Izons are at home with the Kanuris of the Bornu Empire of the far Northern Nigeria. The easily deduced common factor that almost made both great tribes one is most likely to be found in the hostile environment of their individual places of habitation. While the Kanuris of the North survive in the jungle of the desert, just like the camels or horses, the Izon survives in the turbulent and unsteady waters of the ocean, just like sharks or whales. Both must be wild in the two most hostile environment of human nature, where they live, to survive. Again, let us leave this environmental subject and the type of people it produces for another day and come back to the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.

On Monday, August 11th 2014, it was another Goodluck Jonathan; emotionally laden, that spoke on this virus. “It is unfortunate that one mad man brought Ebola to us, but we have to contain it. As a government, we promise that we will do everything humanly possible to contain the Ebola Virus”. The venom the President poured at that occasion on the late Patrick Sawyer, even as he narrated how the “mad man” escaped from his country – Liberia – after the burial of his sister, killed by Ebola Virus Disease, into Nigeria to discharge his “weapon of mass destruction” underscored his genuine concern for all Nigerians. His was the pain of a father who could not hold himself back on seeing calamity befalling his children.

The President quickly, after the emotional outburst, decided to move all Nigerians on the path of escape from the route of this deadly EVD, which is a wise thing for any good leader to do. He summoned all the thirty six governors of the federation [with their thirty six commissioners of Health] to come to Abuja for deliberation on how to tackle the EVD outbreak. It is from this point that the other side of this deadly Virus; albeit the good side or the one l refer to as the unifying factor for Nigerians, started manifesting. Not too many people believe that President Jonathan invitation would receive respectful response and this expectation was not without a reason.

Before the metaphor of EVD on the Nigerian soil, it is a common knowledge that every issue of discuss in the country is contentiously contested amongst three major blocs namely: The first is Political parties, and here it must be deadly agreed and disagreed between the two majors parties namely the People Democratic Party and the All Progressive Congress. The second is tribal dichotomy which leaves only one absurdity at play at all times, and that is “permanent disagreement” between the North and the South – it does not matter how good the project is to Nigerians. The third which is the last one is the religious ‘divide’- Moslems and Christian  – a demonic structure that does not promote the love of God, which is a cardinal concept of both the Holy Bible and the Holy Koran, allowed by the founding fathers of Nigeria for regional cum selfish interests.

These three forces identified above have made it impossible for reason to prevail in accruing aggregated advantages of collectivism for the citizenries since “DIVIDED WE CAN ONLY FALL” and we have been falling for this long while. It is against this background that many thought that the thirty six governors, appropriately spread across these three border posts of political partisanship [PDP/APC], tribal dichotomy [north/south] and religion intolerance [Christian/Moslem] would not honour President Goodluck Jonathan clarion call for salvation of Nigerians. Alas! We did not know that what these three evils have put asunder, a greater evil in the name of Ebola Virus Disease can put together with automatic alacrity without the sermons and negotiations of any National Conference.

Look to what happen now that the EVD forced our unity, at least for this one time, we are able to bring all our human and material resources together fast enough to check and take control of the epidemic. The whole world, as typically represented by the World Health Organisation, pours accolade on Nigeria. Nigeria has now become a shining example of how  “to do it right”, courtesy of EVD.

What is that thick thing in this Virus that everyone; Christian/Moslem, PDP/APC and North/South respects and honours  so much, that for once the President’s clarion call was obeyed without the usual bickering? Could it be the exclusive death sentence it [EVD] has? Whatever has made EVD to become a “compelling General officer commanding” for  Nigerian political leaders and bringing them to total submission, there is a lesson the ruling class, ditto the larger society, can learn from the event.

One of such lessons is that if we agree to remove “madness woven with foolish and selfish greed” from our politics,much can be achieved for the country.