Found this on the DailySun News paper dated October 2, 2013.

I would Like us to be frank here;
After reading the article below, Do you want Nigerian to remain or go our separate ways?

Hausa people are drawing us back. Their Boko Haram says Education is a sin, yet they drive cars and jeeps that are built with western education. Even the assault riffles (AK 47s) and bombs they use to commit their atrocities are by-products of western education.The oil they want to control is being explored using western technology, then they will turn around and say education is BANZA. The best thing is to give them their own country so that they can live in the way they like, for me I'm an Igbo I want us to go our separate ways, Igbos, Hausas, Yorubas, Niger Delta peacefully. thats my own opinion.

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Nigeria at 53 – A Time To Think – By Femi Fani-Kayode

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 their 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?

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’’.

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. Worst 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 southern 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. 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.

Permit me to end this contribution with two points that are worthy of note. Firstly Chief Bola Ige once said that ‘’the oil of the Niger Delta area acts as a glue that keeps Nigeria together’’. This is true. Yet the question that often comes to my mind is as follows- If the oil and gas had been situated in the core north, the west or the east would the major ethnic groups that hold sway in those areas have willingly shared it with the rest of Nigeria? Would they have remained in the federation?

Secondly at the 1954 Constitutional Conference that was held in Lagos, the Action Group, under the distinguished leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, demanded that the “right to secession” be included in the proposed new constitution.

This was rejected by the Colonial Secretary, Oliver Lyttelton. Prior to this, in 1953, after the Kano riots, the Northern Nigeria legislature passed an eight-point programme which in effect demanded the dissolution of the Federation. Again this was rejected by the British. By way of contrast the ‘’right to secession’’ clause was incorporated into the Ethiopian constitution in the 1990’s though it has never been invoked.Perhaps if we had been permitted to adopt that provision in 1954 we would have avoided a whole load of problems including a very brutal civil war between 1967 and 1970 and today’s challenge of Boko Haram.

Perhaps it is not too late to adopt it now. Perhaps that is what may save us from the impending carnage of 2015. Happy independence day.

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whats your opinion?

ckkris: DIVIDE AMICABLY

Thank you ckkris

OP
Assuming you have 24/7 power supply, good roads, portable water etc. I bet you, you wouldn't care who rules us. Is because of Corruption with impunities from our leaders. That is why they use divide and rule tactics to distract us.

The country is like a movie. Seasonal everyday.

ckkris: DIVIDE AMICABLY

bear in mind that Divided will fall while united will stand

It is not going to be separation in border or geographical terms,but rather in conscious terms.The chaffs will be separated from the harvest.Those who thinks positively alike will hang on together while the negative ones will be subdued,reformed or crushed.

There comes a time when people becomes aware.A time of self freedom.

What have we been able to aachieve since the marriage? The continuous abortion of development? The unceasing bloodlettings? No!
Since sleeping together is more dangerous than with a lion, then we go seperate.

donmix: bear in mind that Divided will fall while united will stand

United we stand in daily blood shed? or united we stand where Niger deltans whose lands are producing the oil that sustains Nigeria are living in slumps and swamps are the wicked sit in the middle and forget, Divide we fall in a situation where by an Alhaji from kano owns an oil well in Ogoni Land of deep swamp in a native land of a poor dying farmer with wife and children nothing to hope for? my opinion remains amicable division

It is not about igbo,huasa or yoruba.It is about bad leadership, lack concepts and vision that are prevalent in all regions down to family units.Nigerians are misinformed,that is why everything seems to be a big deal.Even little things like keeping the street clean are rocket science in nigeria.Clean water nko?

Their is a great strength in organized numbers.

geeez: I think this should be part of the national conference and should be subjected to a referendum

Any region that wants to opt out of the federation should be allowed to do so

Thank you

kel4soft: OP
Assuming you have 24/7 power supply, good roads, portable water etc. I bet you, you wouldn't care who rules us. Is because of Corruption with impunities from our leaders. That is why they use divide and rule tactics to distract us.

The country is like a movie. Seasonal everyday.

got to do with denying a child that scored 69% admission because he/she is from Anambra while same admission to the one that scored 1% because he/she is from Yobe/Zamfara?

redsun: It is not about igbo,huasa or yoruba.It is about bad leadership, lack concepts and vision that are prevalent in all regions down to family units.Nigerians are misinformed,that is why everything seems to be a big deal.Even little things like keeping the street clean are rocket science in nigeria.Clean water nko?

Their is a great strength in organized numbers.

The Northern Jihardists have no respect for the sanctity of human life.

Our people have been slaughtered in Northerner Nigeria without fear or respect.
We must go our separate ways!

those who wnts division shud like my post while those who are against division shud quote n tel me their reasons.

Majority carries d vote

This Devil Shiit call Nigeria is on her Final days

It ain't working,
I am unashamedly pro Odua states.
It is very obvious why Nigeria will never work.
We are very different.
Some do not want to share.
Some want to share.
Some who want to share are cheated.
Some are productive while other are not.
Nigeria is dead and buried.
All that remains is to conduct her funeral.

If we divide the country who is going to rule each of the seperate regions? Is it not the same old thieves and the upcoming thieves?. The only problem we have is bad leadership, when they at the top are stealing together they do not involve the common man on the street, but when they are left out of the game they will stir up the common man on the street to battle using ethnicity as a weapon.

No. We are not dividing. What we should do is chase out all the professional malcontents and Nigeria haters, so they go and live in another country. Make them refugees!