“Balanced Ticket” or “Balanced Federation” (3)

It is written:
The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge’? (Ezekiel 18: 1-2)

“Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore, turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18:30-32)

After Independence, the Northern representatives who had denied Minorities in 1958 entered an alliance with the East, including areas now known as the South-South Zone, who are largely Christians and ignored the creation of more Regions demanded by the West, to allay the fears of the Minorities. But the Alliance conducted a Referendum in the West, simply to “cut the West to size”, despite her large Christian presence.

This was the geo-political foundation of the creation of States, largely in favor of the North. Nigeria’s fundamental problems can be traced to this gang up between the East and the North, comprising both Christians and Muslims.

This Alliance was repeated in 1979. The Middle Belt, largely Christians, joined the East in entering another Alliance with the North, even though they were to be major beneficiaries of the Action Group’s demand for more Regions and whom the Action Group had supported materially and politically, before and after Independence.

Several military and civilian administrations followed on the footsteps of the Willink Commission, ostensibly to address the same issues, by establishing committees and commissions, ranging from IMF debates, Political Bureau, Niki Tobi's Constitutional review, Abubakar's consultations, Obasanjo’s “Technical Review Committee”; Yar Adua’s Constitutional Review, Jonathan’s “Confab” and APC’s Committee on Restructuring, with various “zonal consultations”.

Their reports were never subjected to any Plebiscite or Referendums by the various Peoples in the various Zones, for affirmation or rejection, thereby reaffirming the decision made in 1958 at the time of the Willink Commission to deny the various Peoples the opportunity and right to a Plebiscite or Referendum to validate, legalize and legitimize their aspirations.
The deliberate denial of the peoples’ right to take a stand on their aspirations and expectations as a People was replaced with palliatives like “Federal Character”, “Zoning”, “power rotation”, “religious balance” etc.
Christians in the North, East and Middle Belt must therefore reverse the “sins of their fathers”.
It may be said that the current generation of Christians in the North, East and Middle Belt are facing the consequences of the actions of their “fathers”. Not necessarily so.

For, the current generation can “turn and live”.

With 2023 as the chance to turn around the permanent subjugation of the Peoples whose foundation was laid by the rejection of the Willink Commission Report in 1958 with the acquiescence of Christians in the North, Middle Belt, and the East.
Christians must begin to work towards the necessity for the transformation of Nigeria into a True Federation with the PEOPLES as the recognized Federating entities through Referendums among their Peoples as Federating Units as the route towards recreating Nigeria as a Multi-National State.

Beginning with advocating for Nationality Referendums, akin to what the Willink Commission recommended and now, in conjunction with other Reports from the various Conferences referenced earlier.
The Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria are plastering the walls of Labor Party with untempered mortar.
Pastor Ayo Oritsejeafor was President of Christian Association of Nigeria when Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, was Nigeria’s president. At the time, Pastor Oritsejeafor promoted the notion that only religious leaders and not President Jonathan can end insecurity in the Northern Region of Nigeria.

First, this is an indirect way of absolving the President of any responsibility; second, the church or religious leaders have also failed in this responsibility because terrorism continues to fester, till date.
Therefore, the solution cannot be in pursuing more of the same, it must lie somewhere else; after all, President Jonathan’s administration was a “balanced ticket”.
Focusing on “balanced ticket” rather than “Balanced Federation” shows that plastering the walls of Nigeria with untempered mortar is a continuous exercise by the church leaders.
Currently, the Church pastors and leaders are directly or indirectly instructing their congregations to “collect their PVC” and of course, vote for Labor Party simply because its candidate is a Christian.
But what does the candidate and the party represent as far as the question of Minorities, and therefore, the Peoples are concerned? What have they represented such that it has now become the beacon to Christians?

Labor Party is standing firmly within the ambit of reinforcing Nigeria’s faulty Constitutional foundation, supporting the current amendment to the 1999 Constitution, with provisions strengthening the status quo; attempting to neutralize God-given natural boundaries; entrenching further centralization of power in the center.

The Nigeria Labor Congress, which is its political base, has become a bureaucratic machine of Unitarization, on the same page with the Constitutional Amendment on “Local Government Autonomy” which effectively removes local Governance from the purview of the states, contrary to the basic tenets of Federalism. It has thrown its weight behind homogeneity by depriving Indigenes the sole right to determine their Indigeneity. This is more so for Christians in the North, whose communities are already victims of Fulani Lebensraum, with Emirs as their traditional rulers. The Emirate System is a specific Fulani mode of local governance.

It is therefore incumbent on Christians to utilize the current situation as their platform for engagement to Restructure Nigeria into a Multi-National State to be known as “The Union of Nigerian Constituent Nationalities, with a Federal Presidential Council, whose members will be selected or elected from each of the Nationalities as Federating Units and from whom a Head of State will be selected or elected as the primus-inter-pares with an agreed term.”

The advantages of this form of State include but not limited to: (i) permanently resolve the North/South, Christian/Muslim divides, “Federal Character”, “Zoning” etc. by representation of the “Zones” or Nationality in the Federal Council. (ii) It will significantly reduce monetization of politics as no one will need to campaign all over the country to be elected or selected into the Federal Council. (iii) It will ensure the redefinition of “security” to be anchored on the needs and capacities of the Peoples in their own environments. (iv) It will reverse the atomization of “Minorities” in the North by the political reconfiguration that will emerge, akin to the expectations of the Willink Commission on “boundary adjustment”.

A side note: What eventually saved American democracy on January 6, 2021, was the fact that the “electors” were the states, whose decisions were to be confirmed by US Congress and which the “storming” of Congress sought to prevent and failed to achieve. The confirmation of the “electors” from the States constitutes one of the pillars of Democracy in the United States.

In comparable manner, the Federating Unit will become the “electors” to select or elect its representatives to the Federal Council and whose decisions cannot be overturned except by the Federating Unit itself.

Wale Odeku
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.