Nigeria: To break or not to
break
on september 14, 2013 at 7:40
pm in news
By Femi Fani-Kayode
Today a great protest is taking
place in the Catallan region of
Spain. According to the polls, 52
per cent of the people from that
region wish to break off from
Spain and to establish a new
European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of
Scotland are having their own
referendum to determine
whether or not they will stay in
the United Kingdom and, again,
from the polls, it is very clear that
the majority of Scots wish to
have their own new sovereign
state and that the Scottish
Nationalist Party enjoys massive
support. Nobody in either Spain
or the United Kingdom has
insulted those people or labelled
them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or
‘’primitive tribalists’’ for wanting
to break off from the greater
whole and establish their own
country.
Fani-Kayode
Fani-Kayode
This is because everyone
respects the right of the various
ethnic groups and nationalities
within their wider nation to
exercise their right of self-
determination which is an
integral and fundamental aspect
of international law. Exercising
that right does not turn them
into villains and does not make
them any less patriotic than their
compatriots who do not share
their views. It just means that
they have a different perspective
and that they believe, as many
believed before Malaysia and
Singapore broke up, that the
interests of their various peoples
are better served when and if
they go their separate ways.
They opted to be friendly
neighbours rather than to be
compelled to remain within the
same territory against their
collective will. As we in Nigeria
approach the 100-year
anniversary of our 1914
Lugardian amalglamation and, as
the 2015 elections are fast
approaching with both the
northern region and the south-
south zone desperate to take or
to hold on to power at any cost
respectively, we need to begin to
ask ourselves some basic and
fundamental questions about
our future. For example, is our
interest better served by
remaining as one nation or is it
time for those nationalities that
wish to leave the federation in a
peaceful and orderly way, as a
result of a legitimate and honest
referendum, be alllowed to go?
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
If the breaking up of larger
countries into smaller and more
viable ones is good enough for
India (which broke into three),
the Sudan (which broke into
two), Czekhoslovakia (which
broke into two), Yugoslavia
(which broke into 5), the Soviet
Union (which broke into 15) and
numerous other countries over
the years, why is it not good
enough for us? Again, why
should those that believe that
Nigeria ought to break up be
subjected to so much suspicion,
ridicule, contempt and insults
from those that do not share
their views?
Some of the questions that need
to be answered are as follows-
firstly, is our union working?
Secondly, is our marriage a good
one and is it a happy one as
well? Are we satisfied with what
has essentially become a country
that has been turned into
nothing more than (with
apologies to Chief Bode George)
‘’Turn by Turn Nigeria?’’ where
each ethnic group simply looks
forward to enjoying its time to
control the federation and all the
nation’s resources from an all
powerful centre? Are we not
meant to be far more than this?
Is this what the founding fathers
of our nation envisaged?
More than anything else the
recent igbo/yoruba debate over
the issue of the status of Lagos
state and the deportation of a
handful of igbo destitute back to
the east has proved to me that
we as a people are very different
from one another and that our
interests may be better served if
we are no longer bound
together as one. I dare to voice
this opinion even though many
Yoruba share it but will not say
so publiclly.
Is it not time for us to begin to
accept the bitter truth that our
marriage is uncomfortable and
unhappy and that it may not
have been made in heaven or
ordained by God? Is it not clear
that each region or each
nationality ought to be able to
develop at its own pace? Is it not
time for us to have a
confederation of nationalities in
Nigeria and to restructure the
country drastically to give
maximum autonomy to the
various regions and nationalities
or indeed is it not time to just
break up and go our separate
ways?

.DIFFERENCES Many may disagree
but one thing that I believe that
we can at least agree on is that
perhaps it is time for us to be
courageous enough to begin to
talk about these issues openly
and debate them. We must not
sweep our differences under the
carpet and ignore them as if they
do not exist but instead we must
find the courage and muster the
resolve to acknowledge them
and understand them. As far as I
am concerned, this is the
challenge of our time and these
are the questions that need to be
answered.
Whatever happens in 2015 and
whoever wins, whether it be a
northerner or Goodluck Jonathan
of the south-south, I see blood
on the horizon and I see disaster
approaching. Stark promises
from notable players such as
‘’there will be bloodshed if
Goodluck is not re-elected’’ do
not help and are not
encouraging. There are equally
strident and bellicose
murmurings from the other side
as well and some have
threatened that if there is a
repeat performance of the
massive rigging that the North
witnessed in the presidential
election of 2011 anywhere in the
country in 2015, ’’Nigeria will
burn’’ whilst another key player
said that ‘’both the dog and the
baboon shall be soaked in
blood’’.
2015 AS KEG OF GUN POWDER
These words must be taken very
seriously indeed and they reflect
the thinking and mindset of
millions of people from both
sides of the political and regional
divide. Worste still, whether we
like to admit it or not, religion
has now become a major factor
in our politics with Christians
being told in their churches that
it is their solemn duty to support
a Christian presidential candidate
and Muslims being told in their
mosques that it is theirs to
support a Muslim. We are sitting
on a keg of gunpowder and, in
my view, 2015 really will be the
year of make or break for
Nigeria. Sadly, in my humble
opinion, it is far closer to ‘’break’’
than it is to ’’make’’.
If we wish to avoid the road to
Kigali, we must change our
mindset and make the necessary
concessions that we need to
make. We must begin to think
outside of the box and be far
more innovative and
adventurous. For example, why is
it a must in the minds of some
that the PDP must field a Christian
as it’s presidential candidate and
why are some in the APC of the
view that the party must field a
northern Muslim as its own?
These hard and fast fixed
positions are most unhelpful and
the right thing and proper thing
to do is to completely discard
them and attempt to find a
presidential candidate that is a
Nigerian before being a
northerner, a southerner, a
Christian or a Muslim. And
thankfully there are quite a few
of such people around in the
new generation if only the
system will be far-sighted and
enlightened enough to allow
them to emerge and run. Failing
that we must open up the space
now and consider the
unpleasant assertion that the
premium that a united Nigeria
attracts may not be worth paying
simply because we are getting
nothing but failure after failure
and sorrow after sorrow as our
consistent return.
I do not have all the answers and
neither do I claim that I do.
Indeed I may well be wrong
which is why I would be
interested in hearing the views
of others and particularly those
from the younger generation
who may see things very
differently. Whichever way it
goes and regardless of what we
all think, let us not allow this
debate to be driven by the
uninformed or ignorance,
pettiness, hate and acrimony. Let
us not insult one another or act
as if any tribe or nationality are a
collection of angels whilst others
are nothing but demons. Let us
join issues and exchange ideas
in a civil, restrained and decent
manner without hurling insults
at one another or allowing our
emotions to becloud our
thinking.
At the end of the day, we all want
the same thing- namely, to put in
place a system that is in the best
interest of the Nigerian people
and to empower a new
leadership that will allow them to
achieve their full potentials? That
is the objective and that alone.
Over to you.
*Fani Kayode was a Minister of
Aviation

Source: vanguard news

FFK no nah' we're tired of your opinion please keep it to your self. Statesmen shouldn't be involved in all these break-up drama, pls this is not bianca's case so no break-ups nor make-ups this is one 9ja and united we stand.

How I wish this country will break up, what is on ground in nigeria is highly unacceptable , even a goat knows its true.

Appliedmaths.:
FFK no nah' we're tired of your opinion please keep it to your self. Statesmen shouldn't be involved in all these break-up drama, pls this is not bianca's case so no break-ups nor make-ups this is one 9ja and united we stand.

na by force?