In the wake of the ethnic intolerance that has been holding sway in recent times in our country, I think being reticent will not do my conscience any good. Hence my stance on the Kaduna Declaration:

As a successful businessman that has traversed the entire regions of this country, I have come to learn that some, if not a lot of Nigerian youths, enjoy ethnic bigotry a great deal. I cannot tell whether this is as a result of idleness – idleness characterizes unemployment, and a good number of young Nigerians are unemployed. The baffling aspect of it all is that whereas a lot of Nigerians from various ethnic groups disagree strongly with one another in the social media, in reality, there are lots of friendships, work relationships, religious bonding and marital relations between all these ethnicities. In reality, there is genuine love and affection shared between Nigerians irrespective of ethnicities.

I am not going to take sides with any fraction; be it IPOB, AREWA Youths, Oduduwa or any ethnic representative group. But I am going to strongly advise the average Nigerian youth to be wary of violence. Tread carefully in political issues because there are lots of banana peels littered everywhere. Many have slipped and fallen heavily in the past. The nation is yet to fully recover from such a fall. Be more logical than emotional.

Always take a moment, or perhaps, seek elderly counsel before any action is taken. Constant dialogue, healthy debates and intellectual revolution can go a long way in effecting whatever change we seek other than confrontation and unnecessary displays of braggadocio. This is because, Nigeria to be or not to be, lies in your hands.

Then to the elders, please desist from fanning the embers of hate in the minds of the young. We witnessed and indeed understand the sad history of our nation.
Then to the bone of contention: The Kaduna Declaration, I reckon came as a reaction of the Northern youths to the incessant clamour for secession by IPOB and MASSOB; and the cry for the reconstruction of the country from other elements of the Southern part of the nation.

The issue in question is this: very many Nigerians are becoming alive to the fact that the present structure of the country is not working at the optimum that it should, and continuing with it is tantamount to running round a circle. Whenever there is an agitation in the South east, the objective is to voice out that the region is being marginalized or unjustly treated in a federation that they are part of. Whenever there is an agitation in the Niger Delta region, it is still to drive home the same point. Some voices are rising from the South West and parts of the north singing the same hymn.

It suffices then to conclude that the structure of this nation is an issue and should be looked into. Simply put, every well-meaning Nigerian craves a Nigeria where equity, good conscience and fairness prevail. A Nigeria where there will be a level playing field. A Nigeria where none of its citizen from any part of the country will feel like a second class citizen. And truth be told, the chances that these will materialize in this presently-structured Nigeria are slim to non-existent. Playing the ostrich by the government in the face of all these is not going to douse these tensions. It will instead make the already red flames blue. My humble stance.


Chief Patrick Chidolue (Nnabuenyi)
Executive Chairman/CEO of Chelsea Group of Companies.

http://www.gistafricah.com/2017/06/the-kaduna-declaration-conundrum-by.html


Cc: Seun, Lalastica, Tonyebarcanista

Even the Igbos living in the North know how empty and impracticable the threat was. To me, the so-called Arewa youths have no better sense than their ignorant ipob counterparts. I don't even waste time to read any story about these attention-seeking elements, no matter which elders support them.

He made a very wonderful submission....
He seems to be a progressive and I have actually read some of his speeches and learnt about his business ideology. No wonder he is successful and still humble.
Like he said, a word is enough for the wise....

No one has monopoly of violence

No one has monopoly of abuse

No one has monopoly of preaching hatred

No one has monopoly of inciting genocide

You have the right to self determination but you do not have the right to spread hate about others or to incite genocide against them.

Your freedom of speech is guaranteed but your freedom after the speech is not guaranteed.

A wise word is enough for the hate preaching lunatics.