By Anote Ajeluorou
In a country like Nigeria, the question
inevitable arises: How can theatre play its part in the continuing quest for
nationhood? Many might be tempted to dismiss this with a wave of the hand. But
that also says a lot about pervasive cultural ignorance prevalent in the land.
Elsewhere, Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, would have recorded high
attendance for many Lagosians and others from elsewhere to see Nigeria’s first
major national conference undertaken to negotiate the soul of the country in
what has become an unfinished business. Time was 1967.
Elsewhere
also, those who swamped the Star lager beer stand on Lagos Bar Beach in the
last two Sundays would first have stopped at Terra Kulture to see Aburi ’67 before proceeding to drown
their sorrows in bottles of beer. Or shouting themselves hoax at the COPA Lagos
Beach Soccer tournament that took place further down the reclaimed beach land
last Sunday. They would have seen firsthand how their country missed the
opportunity to negotiate aright and travel the right road as far back as 1967
and the wrong choice that was inevitably made some 47 years ago; it led down a
capricious road with its many dangers and bumpiness. But the producer and
director of the play Aburi ‘67,
Ikenna Okpala and Ola Opesan, are hopeful that the remaining two Sundays in
December will fare better and more Nigerians will troupe out to see the
performance, including some surviving members of the military at that time – Mobolaji
Johnson, Adebayo and, of course, Gowon - who are still alive. They were principal
actors in Aburi ’67.
And so when lights came on, Ghanaians are welcoming the young leaders of
an equally new country to their country to negotiate its survival, torn as it was
along ethnic lines with many already killed, including the leader, Gen. Aguiyi
Ironsi (Ironside). Cols Emeka Ojukwu -OJ (Sambasa Nzeribe), Yakubu Gowon -Jack
(Bimbo Olorunmola), Bob Harrison -Commando (Reshayo Kasumu) and Hamza (Precious
Anyanwu) are the four young leaders who had gone to Gen. Ankara of Ghana to try
and resolve the senseless killings of people from the Eastern Region, whom OJ
happens to lead as regional governor after a coup de’tat a year earlier.
While the others appear vague and tend to prevaricate about their
mission in Ghana, OJ has a firm agenda – stop the killing in the North,
discentralise or devolve power from the centre, a categorical statement on the
where about and fate of Ironside, punish officers responsible for killing
fellow soldiers in the barracks and settle those who had fled their original
places of residence. While Jack tries to play along and is ready to resolve all
issues, Hamza is emphatic OJ is asking for too much. He is most vocal about the
first coup that decimated his own people. In fact, it becomes a fight between
him and OJ; he seems set to oppose OJ on every point raised. From his manner
it’s clear he is acting on a pre-written script to which Jack is a mere
participant.
Although Jack heads the government, he doesn’t appear to be in charge.
He’s indecisive on a number of issues. While OJ and Hamza are squaring it out,
he merely pacifies both men, who appear to be in better grasp of their
respective sides. OJ is lucid in tabling his points and is surprised his
colleagues fail to see his points of view, which should be for the overall
benefit of the country on the verge of war or break up. OJ is the only one
among them who seems to understand how dire the situation was, which is just as
well because he is at the receiving end of the influx of refugees into the
region he leads, refugees who are being hounded and killed like dogs for
bearing the same kinship with the military men who carried out a coup!
It is a most turbulent meeting with just four young men deciding the
fate of a new nation. More turbulent also because the odds seem stacked against
one man whose mission it is to assuage the suffering of millions and stave off
a war, which the Hamzas of this world are already beating the drums. Several
times Hamza openly asks OJ to pull out of Nigeria if he insists too much on
certain things like discentralising the federal government, asking the most
senior military officer to take over since Ironside’s where about is unknown.
So, although Jack is leader of Nigeria’s delegation, it’s Hamza who has come to
affirm advantage already gained for the federal side.
Soon
enough OJ sees through the charade and futility of the meeting and withdraws
into his shell; he is certain nothing serious will come out of it to meet the expectations
of his people as they battle with their unprecedented suffering. Even when
resolutions are reached after much haggling and fighting between OJ and Hamza,
OJ remains aloof and unconvinced they go far enough. He sees through the
ineffectualness of Jack; he sees the bloodlust of the likes of Hamza and crawls
into himself. He seeks refuge in prayers; he asks for peace and justice to be
enthroned in the country.
So,
he cries, “The pain is too great for blood revenge to assuage… when will there
be peace and justice after all the killings? Let peace reign in our land, but I
hear drums of war… Never before did I visualize my brothers at the opposite
trench…How long before peace comes to
Nigeria… if we allow impunity to roam the land free…”
So
the dialogue or conference to savage the soul of Nigeria continues… It started
in Aburi, Ghana, after the independence conferences in London. Others have also
been held; the recent one being the National Conference. Like OJ many left the
conference unhappier than they went; the feeling of frustration leaves a bad
taste in their mouth; that their people will not fare better after all than
before. Issues of a centralised government, regional autonomy, regional or
state police still plague Nigeria after four young men deliberated on them some
47 years ago and came to a deadlock. OJ or Ojukwu saw far into the future and
gave a blueprint; the rest of Nigeria shouted him down. Today, the country is
not the wiser for it.
Aburi ’67 is a play worth seeing for its
depth of emotions. The script was sculpted from transcripts of that meeting in
1967. According to the director, Mr. Opesan, “With this play we’re playing our
little part in the Nigerian project; it’s our own contribution. We want to let
Nigerians know that no nation has survived two civil wars; we’ve got to avoid
that path. Even though the play may not be economically viable for us because
of poor audience attendance, we’d like to use it to contribute to Nigeria’s
progress”.
That
progress would mean that resolutions from a conference such as the last one,
unlike Aburi, should be implemented to the letter. Failure to implement Aburi
Accord inevitably led down a slippery path. Nigeria just can’t afford that path
again; this is why Aburi ‘67 is apt
at this moment in history. And, need it be said, a must-see?
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