Today a great protest is taking
place in the Catallan region of
Spain. According to the polls, 52
per cent of the people from that
region wish to break off from
Spain and to establish a new
European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of
Scotland are having their own
referendum to determine whether
or not they will stay in the United
Kingdom and, again, from the
polls, it is very clear that the
majority of Scots wish to have
their own new sovereign state
and that the Scottish Nationalist
Party enjoys massive support.
Nobody in either Spain or the
United Kingdom has insulted those
people or labelled them as ‘’ethnic
jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive tribalists’’
for wanting to break off from the
greater whole and establish their
own country.
Fani-Kayode
This is because everyone
respects the right of the various
ethnic groups and nationalities
within their wider nation to
exercise their right of self-
determination which is an integral
and fundamental aspect of
international law. Exercising that
right does not turn them into
villains and does not make them
any less patriotic than their
compatriots who do not share
their views. It just means that they
have a different perspective and
that they believe, as many
believed before Malaysia and
Singapore broke up, that the
interests of their various peoples
are better served when and if
they go their separate ways.
They opted to be friendly
neighbours rather than to be
compelled to remain within the
same territory against their
collective will. As we in Nigeria
approach the 100-year
anniversary of our 1914
Lugardian amalglamation and, as
the 2015 elections are fast
approaching with both the
northern region and the south-
south zone desperate to take or to
hold on to power at any cost
respectively, we need to begin to
ask ourselves some basic and
fundamental questions about our
future. For example, is our interest
better served by remaining as one
nation or is it time for those
nationalities that wish to leave the
federation in a peaceful and
orderly way, as a result of a
legitimate and honest referendum,
be alllowed to go?
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
If the breaking up of larger
countries into smaller and more
viable ones is good enough for
India (which broke into three), the
Sudan (which broke into two),
Czekhoslovakia (which broke into
two), Yugoslavia (which broke
into 5), the Soviet Union (which
broke into 15) and numerous other
countries over the years, why is it
not good enough for us? Again,
why should those that believe that
Nigeria ought to break up be
subjected to so much suspicion,
ridicule, contempt and insults from
those that do not share their
views?
Some of the questions that need
to be answered are as follows-
firstly, is our union working?
Secondly, is our marriage a good
one and is it a happy one as
well? Are we satisfied with what
has essentially become a country
that has been turned into nothing
more than (with apologies to Chief
Bode George) ‘’Turn by Turn
Nigeria?’’ where each ethnic
group simply looks forward to
enjoying its time to control the
federation and all the nation’s
resources from an all powerful
centre? Are we not meant to be
far more than this? Is this what
the founding fathers of our nation
envisaged?
More than anything else the recent
igbo/yoruba debate over the issue
of the status of Lagos state and
the deportation of a handful of
igbo destitute back to the east has
proved to me that we as a people
are very different from one
another and that our interests may
be better served if we are no
longer bound together as one. I
dare to voice this opinion even
though many Yoruba share it but
will not say so publiclly.
Is it not time for us to begin to
accept the bitter truth that our
marriage is uncomfortable and
unhappy and that it may not have
been made in heaven or ordained
by God? Is it not clear that each
region or each nationality ought to
be able to develop at its own
pace? Is it not time for us to have
a confederation of nationalities in
Nigeria and to restructure the
country drastically to give
maximum autonomy to the various
regions and nationalities or indeed
is it not time to just break up and
go our separate ways?
DIFFERENCES Many may disagree
but one thing that I believe that we
can at least agree on is that
perhaps it is time for us to be
courageous enough to begin to
talk about these issues openly and
debate them. We must not sweep
our differences under the carpet
and ignore them as if they do not
exist but instead we must find the
courage and muster the resolve to
acknowledge them and
understand them. As far as I am
concerned, this is the challenge of
our time and these are the
questions that need to be
answered.
Whatever happens in 2015 and
whoever wins, whether it be a
northerner or Goodluck Jonathan
of the south-south, I see blood on
the horizon and I see disaster
approaching. Stark promises from
notable players such as ‘’there
will be bloodshed if Goodluck is
not re-elected’’ do not help and
are not encouraging. There are
equally strident and
bellicose murmurings from the
other side as well and some
have threatened that if there is a
repeat performance of the
massive rigging that the North
witnessed in the presidential
election of 2011 anywhere in the
country in 2015, ’’Nigeria will
burn’’ whilst another key player
said that ‘’both the dog and the
baboon shall be soaked in blood’’.
2015 AS KEG OF GUN POWDER
These words must be taken very
seriously indeed and they reflect
the thinking and mindset of millions
of people from both sides of the
political and regional divide.
Worste still, whether we like to
admit it or not, religion has now
become a major factor in our
politics with Christians being told
in their churches that it is their
solemn duty to support a Christian
presidential candidate and Muslims
being told in their mosques that it
is theirs to support a Muslim. We
are sitting on a keg of gunpowder
and, in my view, 2015 really will
be the year of make or break for
Nigeria. Sadly, in my humble
opinion, it is far closer to ‘’break’’
than it is to ’’make’’.
If we wish to avoid the road to
Kigali, we must change our
mindset and make the necessary
concessions that we need to
make. We must begin to think
outside of the box and be far more
innovative and adventurous. For
example, why is it a must in the
minds of some that the PDP must
field a Christian as it’s
presidential candidate and why
are some in the APC of the view
that the party must field a northern
Muslim as its own?
These hard and fast fixed
positions are most unhelpful and
the right thing and proper thing to
do is to completely discard them
and attempt to find a presidential
candidate that is a Nigerian before
being a northerner, a southerner,
a Christian or a Muslim. And
thankfully there are quite a few of
such people around in the new
generation if only the system will
be far-sighted and enlightened
enough to allow them to emerge
and run. Failing that we must open
up the space now and consider
the unpleasant assertion that the
premium that a united Nigeria
attracts may not be worth paying
simply because we are getting
nothing but failure after failure and
sorrow after sorrow as our
consistent return.
I do not have all the answers
and neither do I claim that I do.
Indeed I may well be wrong which
is why I would be interested in
hearing the views of others and
particularly those from the
younger generation who may see
things very differently. Whichever
way it goes and regardless of
what we all think, let us not allow
this debate to be driven by the
uninformed or ignorance,
pettiness, hate and acrimony. Let
us not insult one another or act as
if any tribe or nationality are a
collection of angels whilst others
are nothing but demons. Let us
join issues and exchange ideas in
a civil, restrained and decent
manner without hurling insults at
one another or allowing our
emotions to becloud our thinking.
At the end of the day, we all want
the same thing- namely, to put in
place a system that is in the best
interest of the Nigerian people and
to empower a new leadership that
will allow them to achieve their full
potentials? That is the objective
and that alone. Over to you.
*Fani Kayode was a Minister of
Aviation

:I sense this man is becoming fed-up with the so glorified, anti-GEJ, strange bedfellows party, Bianca's issue have not settled and he is talking again. This man must be suffering from the madness that klint-d-drunk describes as 'multiple ndralulu in random motion'.

Break the modafucking shithole already!!!

I belong to southwest region of Nigeria. Fůck Y'all!!

KwoiZabo: [s]:I sense this man is becoming fed-up with the so glorified, anti-GEJ, strange bedfellows party, Bianca's issue have not settled and he is talking again. This man must be suffering from the madness that klint-d-drunk describes as 'multiple ndralulu in random motion'. [/s]

Irrelevant bullshit!!! Go eat.your fuccking one Nigeria. Parasites!