Nigeria’s Amalgamation a celebration of slavery, bad history – Braithwaite

on July 31, 2013 at 1:44 am in Politics

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA-Former  Presidential candidate of the defunct Nigeria Advance Party (NAP)  Dr. Tunji Braithwaite on Tuesday, faulted the planned centenary anniversary of Nigeria’s amalgamation by the presidency in 2014, describing it as a celebration of slavery and bad history.

The Human Rights Activist and lawyer who wondered why despite the myriad of problems confronting the country, coupled with the level of poverty, the Federal government still plans to celebrate the Centenary anniversary of the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, lamented  that the deplorable state of infrastructure in the country and  the precarious security situation are enough reason to halt the celebration.



Speaking  as guest Lecturer at the 2013 Jesus Carnival, 37th Diocesan Anniversary and 170th Year of Christianity in Egbaland in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital ,Dr. Braithwaite said the  celebration was a disgrace to the present generation of Nigerians.

He however, suggested that the president should celebrate the ‘’founding-fathers’ birth of Nigerian that over the years had blossomed into a strong, cohesive and socio/political vibrant force in the comity of nations.

 ‘’Instead of clinking glasses of champagne celebrating and venerating a bad history of enslavement, this generation, should use the occasion of its centenary to finally destroy its last inglorious relics and simultaneously birth a modern and progressive nation.

‘’The Die is cast!. Thee issue is not about 2015 elections or who becomes president or governor in 2015, there are a whole lot of fundamental and foundational matters to be urgently addressed before 2015’’.

“The  current generation would themselves surely, hopefully in an orderly but firm manner, resolve this core issue of their own destiny,’’ he said.

He however, warned Jonathan to be wary of the serious implication of insecurity saying, the  on-going revolution in Egypt is a classical lesson to Nigerian leaders that any charade and fraudulent elections contrived “will-nilly” is no guarantee of security of tenure of office for any unfit or insensitive government.

“The monster of king corruption and impunity in this country at every level of civil administration has exposed the tenuous and fragile foundation of Nigeria’s brand of democracy to the danger, it portends for the people.

“The  reality today of the amalgamation is that both in legal and political context, the amalgamation bond expires in 2014 by effusion of time, unless the people concerned, now voluntarily agree its terms and or modify them.

“The  single evil corruption has done to us manifests on cultism, examination malpractices among many others and it now appears as nothing is a taboo in Nigeria anymore. We prayed and worked for democracy but what type of democracy do we have now, do the people’s votes count? Are we getting the benefits of the abundance natural resources God gave us?.

“If you go to government offices, you will see huge generating sets but what about the poor who can’t afford it?, adding “If you know the huge amount this country generates, the question you will ask yourself is why should Nigerians suffer?”, Braithwaite said.

END
Source: Vanguard Newspaper

I'm equally wondering what is worth celebrating about 1914? Lugard forcefully brought us together to achieve their selfish interest and without minding †ђξ repercussions! We as a people, never agreed on common Ground to live together! Reason why we cannot live in Unity and Peace! Tribe will always come first before Nation! †ђξ crude oil is apparently †ђξ only reason why Nigeria is still surviving till this extent!! We need to seat and talk on a round table!

Its quite unfortunate that up till this moment, we still lie for ourselves to be united in this country! This same set of people have ruled this country for 35yrs since independent(the longest zone to rule) and this same people hold major political and parastatals offices nationwide, come to think of it, this same set of people are the ones that cause chaos and violence in this country. Innocent people die everyday in the quest for power! Whoever knows GEJ should tell him to convey national conference and let's partition this country amicably. Enough of the killings and barbaric acts!!!