Fellow Nigerians, this is not an article but a reminder of the clarion calls to action as contained in the words of many prominent Nigerians dead and alive. What you are about to read are not my words, but those of our forebears and contemporary Nigerian commentators.
Fellow Nigerians, this is not an article but a reminder of the clarion calls to action as contained in the words of many prominent Nigerians dead and alive. What you are about to read are not my words, but those of our forebears and contemporary Nigerian commentators.
Our time to act is now; we have a target to hit.
In his “Path to Nigerian Freedom” (1947) Chief Obafemi Awolowo made this often-quoted statement: "Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression”
Remi Oyeyemi, a public opinion leader expatiating on this comment wrote in one of his articles:
“A nation, to exist has to be ingrained in the psyche of its citizens. There has to be that emotional connection. It has to run as blood in the veins and marrow in the bones of those who subscribe to it. A nation is that consummated indescribable feelings that command the unalloyed love, permeated with buoyant affection and infused with unsolicited loyalty of those who subscribe to it. A nation, other than its geographical delineation, is that which is patently invisible but translucently obvious and recurrent in the gliding waves of the sea of sub-consciousness, of its people”
In 1948 Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa stated thus in the Legislative Council: “Since 1914 the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people themselves are historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and customs and do not show themselves any sign of willingness to unite... Nigerian unity is only a British intention for the country.”
You can imagine that the same man later became the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, a country he never believed in. When it became convenient, he shifted his 1948 position but still had this to say in 1957:
“I am pleased to see that we are now all agreed that the Federal system is, under present conditions, the only sure basis on which Nigeria will remain united. We must recognize our diversity and the peculiar conditions under which the different tribal communities live in this country” (emphasis mine)
In his autobiography “My Life” Sir Ahmadu Bello described the amalgamation of the Northern and the Southern Provinces as “The mistake of 1914.”
Prof. Tam David West in reaction to this comment in 2002 wrote:
“But it could be argued that the British were in fact honest in their intentions. First, the 1914 Amalgamation was simply or primarily for the administrative convenience of Sir Frederick Lugard. Secondly, they had no intention to fashion out or create a Nation out of us”
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He argued further:
The use of the word, Amalgamation, was not perfunctory. It was advisedly used. What they put together was an AMALGAM not a COMPOUND in chemical parlance. An amalgam is an admixture of different constituents; an alloy, easily resolvable into individual components or entities. On the other hand the constituents of a compound are held together by enduring bonds, which are not readily extricable. Thus, metaphorically, a Compound will stand for a Nation.
In the Guardian of March 12, 1992, Chief Alex Ekwueme was reported to have said:
“Ours is hardly a Federation except in name”
In the African Concord of October 1992, Chief Adekunle Ajasin was reported to have said “Our Federalism is upside down. We are not practicing Federalism in Nigeria.”
Now to come to our more contemporary opinion leaders:
Chief Afe Babalola while delivering a lecture on Nigeria in Search of A Nation at Port Harcourt on November 4, 2001 said “…whereas it is easier to create the façade of a “state” within some constitutional or unconstitutional framework so long as such a state is acceptable and recognized as such by the international community and their governments, the question of nationhood cannot be created by the fiat of men however powerful. A nation must evolve from some tortuous natural process of evolution.”
Arthur Nwankwo in his book Nigeria: The challenge of Biafra wrote:
"It is true that the basic problems that caused the Nigerian crises remained unresolved…. And there seems to be no consideration for the health of the Federation in the pursuit of individual or group interests -- from the smuggling racket to the huge payoffs in bribery and corruption.
On November 29, 2009, General Haruna Ibrahim who was the then Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum was reported in the Compass newspaper to have said:
"The country Nigeria started from being divided. We are never one. It was the process of history that brought us together. The British did not meet us as one country. The country Nigeria started from being divided."
Remi Oyeyemi complemented this belief when he wrote
“…the silent majority are angling to extricate themselves from the contraption called Nigeria. It is obvious that every ethnic group wants deliverance from the bondage called Nigeria. It is evident that no one believes in the quagmire called Nigeria. None of us has any emotional connection to the country called Nigeria. It is not ours. It is not our making. It does not belong to us. No one wants it. Nigeria is not a nation. It is a country of nations."
He wrote thus in another piece:
“We are all dissatisfied with Nigeria. Nigeria has betrayed us. Our hopes are dashed. Our dreams are unrealizable within the Nigerian structure. Those who work hard are in penury. Those whose lands are producing the resources are in poverty. Nigeria deprives those who value education. Nigeria constricts those who want to be international businessmen. Nigeria is holding us back from jumping into the age of technology. Nigeria is depriving us a secularity that has been part of our cultural heritage...... Nigeria is impeding those who want merit. Nigeria is humiliating those who value integrity. Nigeria is disgracing those who want self-respect and dignity.”
Tunde Fagbenle a regular commentator on Nigerian issues has this to say:
“This country is in a mess. It is a jumbled forced grouping of disparate peoples with widely differing developmental visions, life views, social inclinations and moral values. For some part of the country education is everything and parents would go hungry in order to send their ward to school. For some other part, education is “foolish” and something to be rejected. For some part, religion is a matter of choice and does not debar cohabiting with those of differing religious bent. For some other part, religion is everything and it is righteous to kill those who do not share of your religious values. For some part, the rich and the poor may eat from the same bowl. For some other part, it is anathema, and the importance of the rich is by how far removed he is from the ordinary man. All of these do not make any one group better than another, they only point to the fact that we are such different people” April 2011
Nigerians dead and alive, old and young have spoken, most Nigerians dead or alive never really belief in Nigeria. The country has presently constituted is structurally defective, it is an aberration, this is why we are fast becoming a failed country, it is incumbent on us for posterity sake to get back to the round table to renegotiate the “mistakes of 1914” as properly posited by Sir Ahmadu Bello.
We cannot afford to wait any longer, we lost millions to the Civil War of 1967-1970, since then we have been dying by installment, the unnecessary carnage occasioning the recently concluded Presidential election is another symptom of a failing country, we must act with the urgency of immediate. We have lived in denial for too long.
My message to President Jonathan, our National Assembly members and other stakeholders is contained in these quotes:
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Benjamin Franklin in his contribution to the American Conference on February 17, 1775
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”
John F. Kennedy
“To choose the right moment in which to act is the great art of men…” Napoleon Bonaparte
Sovereign National Conference now!
Ayo Turton is the National Legal Counsel to the Egbe Omo Yoruba North America.
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