Last modified on Sunday 17 September 201711.51 BST

In two weeks, Catalans will go to the polls to vote in a referendum on whether to secede from Spain and form an independent republic. Or will they?

Ever since Carles Puigdemont’s governmentcalled the referendum for 1 October, the central government in Madrid has been doing everything in its power to ensure that it does not happen. Madrid says the referendum is unconstitutional and so are the laws the Catalan parliament passed a week ago, which will in effect disconnect Catalonia from Spanish legislative and administrative control if the Yes vote prevails.

If the Catalan government’s strategy has been to provoke a reaction from Madrid, it has succeeded. While refusing to discuss the issue, the Spanish government has lashed out with a series of threats, including taking control of Catalonia’s finances by 18 September and abolishing its regional autonomy. It has threatened to bar Catalan leaders from holding office and even warned them that they could face jail. The attorney general has also said that any mayor who allows local authority buildings to be used as polling stations could face prosecution. Meanwhile, mayors who say they will not facilitate the referendum are being picketed and sent hate mail by pro-secessionists.
Anyone printing or distributing ballot papers or supplying ballot boxes risks prosecution, and the government has even threatened to cut off the electricity to schools serving as polling stations. It has warned postal workers against handling electoral material. The Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police force who became local heroes over their handling of the terrorist attacks last month, have been ordered to intervene to prevent voting taking place.

Last Wednesday the Civil Guard shut the official referendum website, but within 24 hours Puigdemont had published a new link to the site on his Twitter account. WikiLeaks’s Julian Assange says he has been helping to defend the website.

Critics of the referendum, including Ada Colau, the mayor of Barcelona, say it lacks the necessary guarantees and has set no minimum level of participation. However, she has reached an agreement with Puigdemont to facilitate the vote in the capital. Meanwhile the Catalan government has sent letters to 55,000 citizens calling on them to run the polling stations. Under the Catalan referendum law they are obliged to take part, but the law has been ruled illegal by Spain’s constitutional court.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/16/catalonia-collision-course-with-spain-independence-vote

Politics is all about game of interest

No reasonable government or institution will allow any of its affiliates to cede from its as such action will serve as weakness of that government and as such weaken the government. The grave mistake Olusegun Obasanjo in ceding the Oil rich Bakkasi peninsula to Cameroon shows how weak we are as a nation but no one from the international community raised eye brow because of economic growth that the action meant for the Western countries. Such mistake must never repeat itself in Nigeria.
Germany parted ways at a time but Germany realised it's mistake quickly and come back again as one. Korea was intruded and both are now paying the ugly price for the cheap actions of theirs.
Sudan despite its Oil potentials allowed itself to be manipulated and it's leaders were brainwashed , till date Sudan has never experience peace.
The larger and bigger a nation is , the more it's respected.

This should serve as advise for Nnamdi Kanu, to desist and apologise to Nigerians for his acts, utterances and mistakes and stop putting his people at severe risks they're currently subjected to.

United we stand. Divided we fall.
ONE NIGERIA.

fistonati:
No reasonable government or institution will allow any of its affiliates to cede from its as such action will serve as weakness of that government and as such weaken the government. The grave mistake Olusegun Obasanjo in ceding the Oil rich Bakkasi peninsula to Cameroon shows how weak we are as a nation but no one from the international community raised eye brow because of economic growth that the action meant for the Western countries. Such mistake must never repeat itself in Nigeria.
Germany parted ways at a time but Germany realised it's mistake quickly and come back again as one. Korea was intruded and both are now paying the ugly price for the cheap actions of theirs.
Sudan despite its Oil potentials allowed itself to be manipulated and it's leaders were brainwashed , till date Sudan has never experience peace.
The larger and bigger a nation is , the more it's respected.

This should serve as advise for Nnamdi Kanu, to desist and apologise to Nigerians for his acts, utterances and mistakes and stop putting his people at severe risks they're currently subjected to.

United we stand. Divided we fall.
ONE NIGERIA.

Yes that is truth, no government will fold her hand and watch somebody dividing is nation. Kanu let the popularity he had intoxicated him.

They should know, no petitioning of EU, UN, Israel or any other nation will help then or force Nigeria to divide. They suppose to have be displomatic or try to align with other region, it may not be 10 years now but with slow and steady, they might realise their goal.

I only pity for the family of the dead one.