Worried by the country’s protracted political logjam, the Ikemba Nnewi, Dim, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu has declared that Nigeria is not a nation yet but a country of many nations.

Ojukwu who has been critical of the state of the country, in a foreword to a book, “Reflections on Revenue sharing amongst tiers of Government in Nigeria” written by a don and a political economist, Prof. Ralph Nwokedi, argued: “All must realize that Nigerian nation that what we have now is a group nations that we hope to fuse into one. We may wish for one, we may dream of one, whatever we do, in order to have Nigeria we have to face each other across a conference table, redraw our plans or make adjustments, restructure or structure abinitio a new Nigeria. This is what this situation demands”.

Ojukwu who has been a strong advocate of the convocation of a sovereign national conference observed: “Whenever I say that a con-federal structure is best suited to our temperament, I say so in the context of a Nigeria that must exist. I do not say it in order to break up Nigeria. I say confederation as possible glue for keeping the big Nigeria alive. If we are nailed willy-nilly into a union, which we find unacceptable, then the inevitable must be a break up. This is not a self-fulfilling wish. It is logic”.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/dec/31/national-31-12-2009-02.htm

The Biafran warlord, however, blamed the British government for the woes of African countries which they granted independence whilst at the same time maintaining an unquestionable sphere of influence over the territories: “The wind of change was blowing across Africa British-inspired federalism became the most touted and most popular political philosophy. The philosophy had the magic of keeping desperate nations together in one party”.
He contended that the concept on the surface appeared attractive but the reality of it condemned states to long period of self questioning, pointing out “No British inspired federalism ever worked. A great deal had been said about the withdrawal of colonialism from Africa, but it would seem that the most vital effect of that withdrawal has been ignored by many writers.

When the British Government in Whitehall imposed a federal structure on any African polity, it set up also a train of concomitant events, which is best, described as a comedy of errors. Politics became a drama played out between an intangible philosophy called federalism and a people totally ignorant of the philosophy. Federalism to work has to come from within and not imposed from outside. Federalism works more from the spirit than from the law. Nigeria had struggled for and had regained her independence, whereas on the other hand Britain deftly put on her a straitjacket called federalism.

I was witness to the joy of the occasion. The departing imperialists rejoiced at having won a very basic independence. The two sides rejoiced, but the each for a different reason. It is this that renders our entire encounter with one another very tense and it is this that makes nation building impossible. The basic theory of federalism has always been that no federating unit in federalism should ever be preponderant over a combination of the other federating units.

For a federation to succeed, all federating units must share a basic culture. In Nigeria, the North, peopled by the Hausa/Fulani, remain preponderant over the south and derived from a pagan-Islamic culture, while the south-multi ethnic derived from a pagan Christian culture.

We resent the British because we feel that Britain short-changed Nigeria. We at Independence received from the British, an independence only in name but not in content. Within Nigeria we cannot find cohesion, because we have always seen the North as intimidating and always threatening to swallow the rest of Nigeria. When we look back at Nigeria whenever we try to rationalize our fate, we discover that of the three founding fathers Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir. Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, we find that only Dr. Azikiwe saw the new Nigerian state as a nation, which had arrived, whereas the other two partners saw Nigeria as an entity, which could be used.

It is not surprising; therefore, that Dr. Azikiwe saw Nigerian march towards African leadership. His brother leaders saw Nigeria as a vast land of opportunity within which to propel Moslem supremacy in the case of the North, the Yoruba supremacy in the case of the West. At independence, Dr, Azikiwe believe he had witnessed the arrival of the Nigerian nation, mighty in size and mightier in resources, whereas Sir Ahmadu Bello welcomed a British sphere of influence, which he could exploit to raise the pillar of Islam in this part of Africa. Obafemi Awolowo like his brother from the North saw Nigeria as a land of vast opportunities for him to exploit to the benefit of his Yoruba nation. Accordingly, from the moment when the new Nigerian flag was raised the founding fathers of Nigeria each moved along his own chosen path. Today, the North, because of the concept of Sir Ahmadu Bello, has become a giant in the Nigerian society, the West, because of Chief Awolowo’s concept has been pulled-up by its bootstraps to control in its totality the finances of this country, the East not surprisingly has since independence continuously made sacrifices for the nation it hopefully wishes to exist”, Ojukwu contended.

Well articulated piece from a real intellectual who understands the essence of government . . . The piece is vintage Ojukwu.
The only man that always paint the scenario as it is without fearing any evil soul.

Long Live Odumegwu Ojukwu!!

man, ibo people need prayer fast getting tired of all these sob threads.

SEFAGO:

man, ibo people need prayer fast getting tired of all these sob threads.

Nice to the see the first of the deluded hypocrites slinging tribal mud where one does not exist

The present colonial contraption known as Nigeria does not fit the definition of a nation. The cesspit called Nigeria is a shaky amalgamation of nation states. There are no existing and fathomable factors that could solidly and steadily glue the nation states together.

I resolutely believed in the disintegration of the colonial contraption called Nigeria. The idea of national sovereign conference should be an option if the subject of discussion should hover around disintegration.