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Ango Abdullahi, Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), in an Interview with DAILY INDEPENDENT said that the North would support the balkanisation of Nigeria.
The northern spokesperson made the disclosure when asked to air his opinion on the National Conference and the call by a group for secession from Nigeria. He said, "Nigeria was put together, not by me, not by you. It was put together by the British colonial masters. Of course, when they put Nigeria together, there was no consultation, even with the local chiefs, the local chiefdoms.
"They carved out protectorates initially – the Lagos Colony, the Southern Protectorate and the Northern Protectorate, and, at some point, Lugard decided that, for administrative convenience and effective exploitation of Nigeria’s resources, they needed to merge these protectorates in 1914. That gave birth to Nigeria. Some people say it was God. I would rather say it was the British colonial masters that created Nigeria, maybe against the wish of the people who would not want to see this kind of arrangement.
"Having done so, they tried to organize the country from 1914 up to 1960 when they left us. And by the time they left us, they were able to convince us that it was going to be beneficial for the country to remain under certain constitutional mechanisms and arrangements. This is why they preferred, given the diversities of the country, its historical antecedents, a federal system of government that leaves a lot of authority and powers to sections of the country. That’s why we started with three regions – Eastern Nigeria, Western Nigeria, and Northern Nigeria, in 1960. By 1963, the Midwest region was also created. Apart from the federal constitution, each region also had its own constitution. That again leaves a lot of powers devolved to these regions. That understanding we had experienced was that even the region themselves were not as homogenous as they should be.
"Even before the British left, the minorities commission was set up to see in what ways the minorities’ fears could be allayed before Independence, and after it. So, by the time we had our Independence, and after 1963, when we became a republic, agitations had continued unabated, that the kind of Nigeria that people would want is not what we had, and they continued in as many ways as possible to urge for structural changes.
"These agitations led to a number of constitutional conferences. The first constitutional conference started in 1963, when we changed our constitution from a country with allegiance to a monarchy, and became a republic. That came with a constitution. A constitutional change took place when Gen. Gowon (retd) created 12 states out of the 4 regions at the time. When Murtala Mohammed came, he introduced a merger to the constitutional reforms by introducing a presidential system of government, moving away from parliamentary system. And in addition, he created more states. I think it was during his time that we had 19 states. This agitation for creation of states is a manifestation of our ethnic diversities. Ethnic groups wanted to be as independent as possible as active participants in the affairs of the country. This led continuously to moves for more state creation. After this particular one, we had 36 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory. All the same, we are still experiencing dissatisfaction with this.
"Despite the agitation for creation of states in the 60s, people are now saying no, we’ve made a mistake by creating states out of the regions. And that’s why the West felt it was better for them to be in the old Western Region, or the structure of the old Western Region. That was the same thing in Igboland. Given the minority agitations, well before Independence, one is not surprised that the Niger Delta area may not want to remain with the Eastern Region of old, and may want to be on their own, more so now because there are oil wells there. So they want to leave the Igbo out of it.
"So, fair enough, the place where so many questions seem to be hanging is the position of the North – the North has never agitated for the breakup of Nigeria. There was one time when there was Araba in 1966. It was when they suddenly saw what they considered to be a sectional disruption of government by military boys, mainly of Igbo extraction. And, of course, there were reprisals that led to the killings of Igbos in their numbers here, and of course eventually it moved to the Eastern region, Aburi, the civil war, and the rest of all. So, Biafra has been on the cards for quite some time, and still on the cards of so many people.
"So, for us here in the North, we have tried like our parents did. Yes, Nigeria is very useful to all Nigerians, not to Northerners, not to westerners, not to Igbos alone; to everybody, including us that sell suya in some sections of the country. For us (Northerners) now, we have reached a point that, if other Nigerians feel that the current Nigerian state is untenable, is not sustainable, we will support its balkanization.We will support it. I am one of those who believe that, yes, if other Nigerians are saying that Nigeria is not good enough, is not worth it, we believe the same, and I think we should go ahead and balkanize it.
Click here to read more
SOURCE: #DailyIndependent
#Biafra
The northern spokesperson made the disclosure when asked to air his opinion on the National Conference and the call by a group for secession from Nigeria. He said, "Nigeria was put together, not by me, not by you. It was put together by the British colonial masters. Of course, when they put Nigeria together, there was no consultation, even with the local chiefs, the local chiefdoms.
"They carved out protectorates initially – the Lagos Colony, the Southern Protectorate and the Northern Protectorate, and, at some point, Lugard decided that, for administrative convenience and effective exploitation of Nigeria’s resources, they needed to merge these protectorates in 1914. That gave birth to Nigeria. Some people say it was God. I would rather say it was the British colonial masters that created Nigeria, maybe against the wish of the people who would not want to see this kind of arrangement.
"Having done so, they tried to organize the country from 1914 up to 1960 when they left us. And by the time they left us, they were able to convince us that it was going to be beneficial for the country to remain under certain constitutional mechanisms and arrangements. This is why they preferred, given the diversities of the country, its historical antecedents, a federal system of government that leaves a lot of authority and powers to sections of the country. That’s why we started with three regions – Eastern Nigeria, Western Nigeria, and Northern Nigeria, in 1960. By 1963, the Midwest region was also created. Apart from the federal constitution, each region also had its own constitution. That again leaves a lot of powers devolved to these regions. That understanding we had experienced was that even the region themselves were not as homogenous as they should be.
"Even before the British left, the minorities commission was set up to see in what ways the minorities’ fears could be allayed before Independence, and after it. So, by the time we had our Independence, and after 1963, when we became a republic, agitations had continued unabated, that the kind of Nigeria that people would want is not what we had, and they continued in as many ways as possible to urge for structural changes.
"These agitations led to a number of constitutional conferences. The first constitutional conference started in 1963, when we changed our constitution from a country with allegiance to a monarchy, and became a republic. That came with a constitution. A constitutional change took place when Gen. Gowon (retd) created 12 states out of the 4 regions at the time. When Murtala Mohammed came, he introduced a merger to the constitutional reforms by introducing a presidential system of government, moving away from parliamentary system. And in addition, he created more states. I think it was during his time that we had 19 states. This agitation for creation of states is a manifestation of our ethnic diversities. Ethnic groups wanted to be as independent as possible as active participants in the affairs of the country. This led continuously to moves for more state creation. After this particular one, we had 36 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory. All the same, we are still experiencing dissatisfaction with this.
"Despite the agitation for creation of states in the 60s, people are now saying no, we’ve made a mistake by creating states out of the regions. And that’s why the West felt it was better for them to be in the old Western Region, or the structure of the old Western Region. That was the same thing in Igboland. Given the minority agitations, well before Independence, one is not surprised that the Niger Delta area may not want to remain with the Eastern Region of old, and may want to be on their own, more so now because there are oil wells there. So they want to leave the Igbo out of it.
"So, fair enough, the place where so many questions seem to be hanging is the position of the North – the North has never agitated for the breakup of Nigeria. There was one time when there was Araba in 1966. It was when they suddenly saw what they considered to be a sectional disruption of government by military boys, mainly of Igbo extraction. And, of course, there were reprisals that led to the killings of Igbos in their numbers here, and of course eventually it moved to the Eastern region, Aburi, the civil war, and the rest of all. So, Biafra has been on the cards for quite some time, and still on the cards of so many people.
"So, for us here in the North, we have tried like our parents did. Yes, Nigeria is very useful to all Nigerians, not to Northerners, not to westerners, not to Igbos alone; to everybody, including us that sell suya in some sections of the country. For us (Northerners) now, we have reached a point that, if other Nigerians feel that the current Nigerian state is untenable, is not sustainable, we will support its balkanization.We will support it. I am one of those who believe that, yes, if other Nigerians are saying that Nigeria is not good enough, is not worth it, we believe the same, and I think we should go ahead and balkanize it.
Click here to read more
SOURCE: #DailyIndependent
#Biafra
