boay: I welcome all and sundry to this august assembly for the last debate in this stage. I hereby declare the debate open.

Debaters you can now post your arguments. UNIBEN first then OAU.

boay: UNIBEN debaters please post your arguments. You are keeping us waiting.

boay: OAU second debater please post your argument.

boay: Debaters can now begin to puncture their contenders' arguments and respond to their punctured arguments.

You have 1 hour for this.

Goodluck!

The Last Nazgûl:

Almagamation is therefore the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into a single form. Going by this definition, an almagamation is thus not a run of the mill merger, as the almagamating entities moult and divest themselves of their erstwhile pre-almagamation individual independent statuses by taking on the new form of the new union.

In the year 1914, a geographically demarcated piece of land known as Nigeria came into being, with the merger of the northern and southern protectorates by Lord Lugard. By this infamous action, Lugard waltzed his way into the annals of history. Lord Lugard is, without a shard of doubt, definitely writhing uneasily and frothing furiously in his grave in England, with his state of unrest brought about by his historical faux pas. Lugard was well aware of the incompatibility of the peoples on either side of the protectorate divide, hence he said ' the north and south are like oil and water, they cannot mix.' It is common knowledge that immiscible substances are best kept apart, yet Lugard who was obviously aware of the ominous consequences that would ensue from such a joinder, chose to foolhardily damn the consequences.

Nigeria had a very peaceful annexation if you ask me, whereby only signed documents brought the northern and southern protectorates together.

Quatermaine:

Davo, what do you mean by Peaceful?, that both parties agreed to merge?.

The Last Nazgûl:
... It thus goes without saying that 'Nigerians' on both sides of the 'protectorate' divide never sought the unification of the protectorate or in simpler terms, the creation of the Nigerian state. The stakeholders were thus not consulted, rather, an all important decision, one which shaped their destinies was taken by the colonial lords of the Nigerian manor. Thus, Nigeria as we know it today is a colonial contraption , a crige worthy artifact, a colonial Greek gift.

I will liken the birth of Nigeria to that of a man who was brought into existence as a result of a vicious molest incidence. After conception, the pregnancy of this man was not aborted despite the known unpalatable circumstances surrounding it and probable external influences against it. The baby was delivered, can we say that baby was a mistake?

The Last Nazgûl: Good afternoon Judges, Coordinators, my fellow debaters and the assembled audience, I am The Last Nazgul and I seek to support the topic of today's debate- Almagamation- a Historical mistake?

Encarta dictionary provides an unclear definition of 'almagamation' a word that lies at the heart of today's debate. It defines almagamation as ' the process of almagamating things into a united whole'. A slight tweaking of search terms turned up the following definition of almagamate- 'to combine two or more organizations or things into a unified whole'.

Almagamation is therefore the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into a single form. Going by this definition, an almagamation is thus not a run of the mill merger, as the almagamating entities moult and divest themselves of their erstwhile pre-almagamation individual independent statuses by taking on the new form of the new union.

In the year 1914, a geographically demarcated piece of land known as Nigeria came into being, with the merger of the northern and southern protectorates by Lord Lugard. By this infamous action, Lugard waltzed his way into the annals of history. Lord Lugard is, without a shard of doubt, definitely writhing uneasily and frothing furiously in his grave in England, with his state of unrest brought about by his historical faux pas. Lugard was well aware of the incompatibility of the peoples on either side of the protectorate divide, hence he said ' the north and south are like oil and water, they cannot mix.' It is common knowledge that immiscible substances are best kept apart, yet Lugard who was obviously aware of the ominous consequences that would ensue from such a joinder, chose to foolhardily damn the consequences.

The almagamation is best described as an ill advised move, an air headed fusation and a marriage doomed from the get-go. The tell tale signs were present but were ignored by those at the helm of affairs- Lugard and his colonial cronies- who chose to join two immiscible quantities- oil and water, in a harebrained venture,thus acting contrariwise to logic, in a bid to feather the nest of colonial economic exploitation, with the aborigines left holding the short straw. This premise is corroborated by Chief R. Akinjide who was quoted as saying, 'In fact, the so-called Nigeria created in 1914 was a complete fraud. It was not created in the interest of Nigeria or Nigerians, but in the interest of the British...''. It thus goes without saying that 'Nigerians' on both sides of the 'protectorate' divide never sought the unification of the protectorate or in simpler terms, the creation of the Nigerian state. The stakeholders were thus not consulted, rather, an all important decision, one which shaped their destinies was taken by the colonial lords of the Nigerian manor. Thus, Nigeria as we know it today is a colonial contraption , a cringe worthy artifact, a colonial Greek gift.

The unification of the protectorates has been touted as a historical mistake and that is without a glimmer of doubt, an aptly fitting phrase, as the joinder of the protectorates has turned out to be a gaffe of epic proportions, to put it lightly. Why is this so?
The books of Nigerian history are bloodied with well documented accounted of pseudo-deathly squabbles between the constituent parts of the nation, with the nation and one time embroiled in a seemingly endless symphony of coups and counter coups launched by coupists of Southern and Northern extraction, in frenzied bids to seize the reins of power. The January 1966 coup was spearheaded by idealistic igbo officers and was aptly named igbo coup and claimed the lives of several northerners. The Northerners soon licked and nursed their wounds and launched a reprisal coup of their own in July of the same year- a coup noted for it's bloodiness, with four consecutive days of bloodletting thrown into the fray for good measure. The plan by the colonial administration to almagamate people not of the same cultural background who lacked common similarities is the basis of our difficulties and back breaking struggles as a nation. The denizens of the Nigerian state are anything but peas in a pod, they are peoples that are as diverse as they come, divided along socio-cultural, eco-political, ideological and religious parallels,with the colonialists choosing to ignore the heterogenity of the people. The north possessed an islamic, authocratic, centralized clime anchored on aristocracy. The South was the exact opposite. Certain parts were Christian with a sprinkling of traditional religions, pseudo-democratic(with an 'impeacheable' Alaafin) and autochthonous (Igbo land)
Cracks soon began to show as erstwhile members of the protectorates soon began to angle for furtherance of their interests,showing deep seated animosity for each other and the nascent nation, with Yoruba sage and politician Awoke quoted as saying ' Nigeria is not only a geographical expression to which life was given by the diabolical almagamation of 1914,that almagamation will EVER r remain the most painful injury the British government inflicted on Southern Nigeria'. His compatriot from across the Niger, Tafawa Balewa was however less subtle and more outspoken about his disdain for the amalgamation mistake, hence he said ' the southern people that are swarming into this region( the north) are really intruders. we do not want them and they are not welcome here. The British government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country but the Nigerian people are different in every way including religion, language and aspiration. The fact that we are all Africans may have misguided the British. We here in the north , take it that ' Nigerian unity' is not for us'. The difference in aspiration soon came to light with the independence move spearheaded by the south. The North kicked against this move furiously, citing unreadiness., with Ahmadu Bello saying ' the mistake of 1914 has come to light'. Going by the above , it is obvious that the North and South have always been opposing forces, reminiscent of the Chinese yin and yang, and their differences are unignorable,with the notion of 'for the greater good' being far flung from their hearts with each side jostling for it's pound of flesh to the detriment of the Nigerian cause. Several anti- South riots had ensued in the North with 36-52 casualties ensuing after the independence move with Igbos bearing the brunt of such mob action. The bandwagon of errors birthed by the amalgamation mistake came to a head in 1967 with the outbreak of the civil war as the Igbos had clearly had enough and sought to steal a march on the others by seceding thus opting out of the problematic pairing. Their secession plot was met with stiff resistance by the other constituent parts under the umbrage of the nigerian military, with an all out altercation in form of a civil war ensuing. The igbos had sought to found their own nation named Biafra- land of the rising sun. The igbos had obviously realized their potential for greatness, one which was being stifled in the Nigerian clime. The oubreak of theNigerian civil war cannot be said to be a surprise as it was only a matter of time before a secession plot crystallized.
Till this very day, the Nigerian elements have remained crabs in a bucket, tugging the soul of the Nigerian nation in opposite direction with the resultant effect of the ship of state moving everywhere and nowhere. Modern day Nigeria battles with a series of plagues brought about by the amalgamation monstrosity- the Boko Haram ethno-religious insurgency, continuous incensed struggles for lofty position of power, shaky secession plots nursed by the Igbos under the umbrage of MASSOB, internecine clashes between major and minor ethnic groups on different scales and in different theaters, continuous angling for a larger chunk of the national cake with certain region

Davo93: Standing on the existing protocol, kindly permit me to point out some inordinations in my opponents' write-up.



Your defination is wrong and moreso, I have not come across such word before in a dictionary or anywhere.



Do you realize there was no problem immediately the amalgamation was done and politically and economically, things appeared normal until the introduction of the Legislative Council which brought together representatives from the north and the southern parts of the country. So alledging Lugard purposely brought problem is unfounded as you claim.

Davo93: Thank you. I said peaceful and i mean peaceful. If you had taken time to study my write-up, you will see where i pointed out that some annexations came up after many wars and violent processes from the stakeholders. So if only signed documents brought Nigeria to existence without bloodshed, can we not say it is peaceful? Yes, it is definately peaceful.

Quatermaine:
Nice concept..

at times the baby could be a mistake.. Cases as when both couples did not plan to have a baby, I consider it a mistake because the couples had their own interest at heart at the expense of that of the baby's by virtue of coming into the world.

If you had sex with a lady and she becomes pregnant, what will be your first reaction?

.The unification was done mainly for economic reasons rather than political, the Northern protectorate of Nigeria had a budget deficit and were poor with inadequate resources for proper administration, so the colonial administration sought to offset this deficit.

Miracy: according to you,the amalgamation was borne out of administrative expediency to benefit the originator rather than the stake holder but I want to point it out that their motives might be self centered but it was of tremendous benefit to the people and I can't seen to find any evil out come of it. Many colonial administration wasnt really for the interest of the people but being able to bring something good out of it.can you please give some instances of the evil out come of the amalgamation that made it a mistake?

Davo93: Yes, I may not want a baby in the first place, so also according to your proposition, there was no clear interests from the two protectorates to merge. So, if i did not propose to abort the pregnancy that came as a result of it, i believe that has layed credence to the fact that i have decided to have the baby. So after the birth of the baby, do you still call it a mistake? Obviously NO!

Think about this friend.

davo: Truly, our diversity if not properly harnessed and continually encouraged to its positive side, there could be problem and this is the instance we find ourselves atimes.

Modern day Nigeria battles with a series of plagues brought about by the amalgamation monstrosity- the Boko Haram ethno-religious insurgency, continuous incensed struggles for lofty position of power, shaky secession plots nursed by the Igbos under the umbrage of MASSOB, internecine clashes between major and minor ethnic groups on different scales and in different theaters, continuous angling for a larger chunk of the national cake with certain region feeling exploited with others bringing little or nothing to the revenue table, militancy et al.

Quatermaine:
i beg to disagree. It was not peaceful, both parties never agreed.. The northerners did not want the christainity and education of the south whereas the southerners never agreed to accept the legislative structure of the North ( sharia law for example)..

You said wars, but who was fighting who??

Davo93: