By John Damian Adizie

Hurrah! The long expected 1st October is here. Today is a day of celebration for all Nigerians. Today, Nigeria celebrates its 57th Independence. We are celebrating our freedom from colonial rule. We are celebrating our autonomy We are celebrating unity in diversity. Indeed, we are celebrating the freedom of the giant of Africa!

Nigerian Army and Nnamdi Kanu

We are also commemorating 57 years of tribal, ethnic and religious clashes across the various states that make up Nigeria.  We are commemorating the death of our freedom fighters, those who lost their lives in the fight for independence. We use this opportunity to pay tribute to the Fathers of this great nation.

This year is indeed the most tensed independence in the history of Nigeria. Almost all the Hausas in Abia State, especially Aba, have gone back to the North because of the clash between the Nigerian Army and IPOB. Most of the Igbos in the North travelled back home to the South due to the quit notice issued to them by Arewa youths. Most of the Yoruba Elders are seriously calling for the restructuring of the nation. Some Igbo youths, especially IPOB, are still calling for Referendum. Some Muslim elders are calling for stricter measures against IPOB.

These various agitations and tensions notwithstanding, we all woke up this morn-ing only to discover that Nigeria is still one indivisible nation. The Arewa youth’s quit notice has expired, yet Nigeria remains an indivisible nation. Various agitations by IPOB, the Oduduwa, and even the militants are still going on under the background, yet Nigeria remains one indivisible nation. Even as the federal government seems to pay deaf ears to the agitations, Nigeria remains an indivisible nation. Even with the so-called military python dance, which has caused a lot of tension in the South-East, Nigeria remains an indivisible nation.

While preparing for this year’s independ-ence celebration one of my favoured child raised an interesting question, “Apart from the match past what type of dance are we presenting on the day of independence?” before I could answer her, one of them re-plied “Python dance, of course.” Python da-nce! I exclaimed. Which one is python dance. Why python dance…? They responded in chorus, “The kind of dance soldiers are pre-senting in the South-East.” I was dumb founded.

It took me time to convince the children that what we need for our national independence celebration is not a python dance but a peaceful dance. The python dance is as bad as the terrorists’ dance. It is as bad as every political agitation. Two wrongs cannot make a right. The python dance may work in a military system of government but not in a democratic and civilian system of government. The python dance is not for joyful celebrations such as independence. It is not even the best form of dance among the innocent and vulner-able civilians.

Out of curiosity I revisited my dictionary only to discover that “The python is a large tropical snake that kills animals (and probably human beings) for food, by crushing them.” Certainly we don’t need anyone to tell us that such reptiles are dangerous. Python is not a friendly animal. It is among the dangerous animals on earth. By the way, Who are the soldiers going to crush in the South-east? Is it not the same vulnerable unemployed youths, who have fallen victim of circumstances? May God deliver our country Nigeria from every spirit of python!

Nigeria as an independent and democra-tic nation does not need a python dance. Apart from dialogue, what we need in Nigeria during this independence celebrat-ion is a peaceful dance. We need a fraternal dance, a unitary dance that  highlights the various rich cultures and tribal heritage in Nigeria. We need a life-transforming dance, a greenish dance, a dance that portray the true colour of our national flag, which is green-white-green. Green is a colour of Life and not blood.

Finally, may I use this medium to appeal to my fellow Nigerians, if we truly want to remain together as one nation, then we must carry our youths along. Most of our youths are unemployed. Most of them are frustrat-ed. Apart from these jobless youths who are dancing hopelessly along the streets, the number of youths that are trooping out of Nigeria is a clear indication that we have all failed the youths. Killing them is not the solution. Giving them derogatory names so as to justify their deaths is not  even the way forward.

Let’s empower them! If we employ them constructively they will not be available to be used by any miscreant. The youths are the future hope of this great nation. I wish Nigerians all over the world Happy Independence Celebration!!!