The Trying Years: Patriarchs of League Unitus

By Imeje Fidelis

The story of Unitus, a great kingdom in the land of Norwegia began a very long time ago, before men ever thought of crossing the vast body of waters that separated the continents. In this land of splendid beauty, blessed with natural resources and minerals, lived tribes that had a lot in common. But the tribes blinded by greed and drunken by power waged protracted tribal wars against one another, partitioned the land, and erected walls of separation. However, in spite of the man made barriers and boundaries, the tribes still interacted with one another in times of peace and maintained sovereignty over tribal and territorial affairs until the combine inter play of factors —man made on the one hand and nature on the other made it inevitable for the tribes to unite for the common benefit of all.
With territorial barriers removed and sovereignty surrendered to a central authority, the centre soon becomes threatened. Suspicion, envy and hatred have taken centre stage, can the centre still hold? Would unity in diversity withstand the test of time? Have the tribes really planted a time bomb to destroy themselves? What went wrong, when and where? How can the time bomb be defused? These are some of the symbolic questions that the series readily provides answers to.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Imeje Fidelis
• Release date: Aug 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310219054

Imeje Fidelis

Imeje Fidelis is a Historian cum Diplomat, an Author, and composer. He holds a bachelor of Arts Degree ( Second Class Upper Division) in History and International Studies, University of Calabar. He is the author of 'The Trying Years 1: Patriarchs of League Unitus ( Conflict Over Nothing Series), Fischer and Friends 1: Countryside Adventures ( Grandpa Leo Story series) and many yet to be published titles. He has also written many children verses, poems, and songs that he hopes to publish soon. Imeje Fidelis is African. He loves the African heritage and appreciates other non-African cultures. He is an ardent advocate of peace, love, equality, and justice. He is not a religious fanatic and enjoys traveling, meeting people, and reading.

Book preview

The Trying Years

Patriarchs of League Unitus

IMEJE FIDELIS

Copyright © 2014 Imeje Fidelis

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my beloved planet the damsel of the Milky Way galaxy and to the heroes of my beloved country past and present.

Table of Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

ACT ONE PATH TO UNITY AND GREATNESS

ACT ONE SCENE I

ACT ONE SCENE II

ACT ONE SCENE III

ACT ONE SCENE IV

ACT TWO QUALMS AND QUARRELS

ACT TWO SCENE I

ACT TWO SCENE II

ACT TWO SCENE III

ACT TWO SCENE IV

ACT TWO SCENE V

ACT THREE RECONCILIATION AND RECONSTRUCTION

ACT THREE SCENE I

ACT THREE SCENE II

ACT THREE SCENE III

EPILOGUE

ABOUT IMEJE FIDELIS

OTHER TITLES BY IMEJE FIDELIS

CONNECT WITH IMEJE FIDELIS

PREFACE

In 2003 I started a book project titled ‘Conflict over Nothing’ in response to the political crisis and instability that characterised my country at the time. As a teenager in junior high school, I was already conscious of some of the factors behind those challenges that confronted my country. I was also conversant with the history of the various ethnic groups that constituted my country.

Corruption, tribalism and religious fanaticism (ethno- religious extremism) stood out among others as the major factors responsible for the civil disturbances that marred my country then, or so I thought. My reasons for following that line of thought was not farfetched; the leaders were not being sincere in their words and actions, some of them were corrupt beyond wordy descriptions; the country's borders though clearly defined were still porous and susceptible to infiltration of elements that constituted threads to national security; and the population growth which was not moving at the same pace with the production, supply and provision of the basic necessities of survival; food, clothing and shelter led to poor standard and high cost of living.

Complains, protests, demonstrations, agitation, and in most cases industrial actions (down tool) fell on deaf ears. The political class was not to be blamed entirely for some of the challenges. Nature also has its way of replenishing lost nutrient or life cycle; this was only applicable to food production and not in the area of providing other basic needs of clothing, shelter and initiating policies and programmes that would impact positively on the lives of the masses. The latter was solely the responsibility of the political class that had a case to answer in those areas.

Some of the youths with potentials could have done better if only their talents were not frustrated. More so, the political oppositions would have done more good than harm if they had not taken undue advantage of the situation by incorporating inciting elements in their criticism of the ruling party, campaign propaganda, and debates. Hence, the emergence of small insurgent groups that eventually metamorphosed into ethno-religious terror organisations.

I had hoped that the book titled ' Conflict over Nothing' would be widely embraced by my country men, given some degree of recognition, and even celebrated as a national book, but that was just a thought, an unrealistic wish. The title was never published because nobody I met sincerely shared my dreams of a society devoid of corruption, inequality, and ethno-religious conflicts; perhaps, my little valueless and trivial piece of ink in paper was not part of what was needed at the time.

Perhaps, that was not the best time to emphasize shared history, spirit of nationhood, Unity in Diversity, harmonious coexistence, love, peace, equality, respect, tolerance, and the likes. All that needed to be heard at the time by majority of the people were inciting terms like hate, kill, destroy, distrust, infidel, and anything that falls in that group of words connoting negative ethos. So true is the saying that a prophet is not always accepted in his own country. Mosses’ authority as a man of God was on several occasions questioned by the Israelites, neither was Jesus Christ accepted by the Israelites. Mohammed was forced to flee Mecca to Medina by his own tribesmen in the early years of his preaching. Gautama Buddha must have been mocked at when he first preached about pureness of spirit as the answer to suffering. Yet these men are highly venerated today, even by the children of those that had opposed them, what irony, but such ironies gave me the strength that I needed to carry on.

In 2013 while I was doing the compulsory one year national service to my motherland I revisited the book project some ten years after I first conceived it. The title of the book was changed from 'Conflicts over Nothing' to 'The Trying Years: The History of a People. The new title featured characters like Wani, Zoge, Biaria, The Angels, The Fiends, and the Elders. The book was divided into three Acts, and the setting was 'The Farm' symbolic