Why North wants to continue ruling Nigeria - Ex-Minister, Akinyemi

Former Minister of Aviation, Bolaji Akinyemi, has opined that the fear of marginalisation is responsible for the North insistence on holding on to power.

He also noted that most of the problems confronting Nigeria can be resolved if the North embrace restructuring.

Akinyemi added that only President Muhammadu Buhari can solve the crises currently confronting Nigeria.

“People cannot understand or reason properly. You’ve got to accept that in politics, rationality takes a back seat; people refuse to reason rationally when it comes to politics”, he told Vanguard.

“Ethnicity is a negation of rational thinking. I remember once reading something that was meant to be a joke but it wasn’t. It said if you enter a Nigerian plane and you look at the newspapers people are reading, you can tell which part of the country they are from.

“It’s like my mind is made up, so don’t confuse me with facts. So, when a northerner then picks up a newspaper from another part of the country, his first impression is, ‘what do you expect?’ But if he reads the same thing in a newspaper aligned to his region, then he believes it.

“Same goes for a westerner or an easterner and that is why I have come to the conclusion that, right now, the only person who could solve Nigeria’s problem is Buhari.

“The north doesn’t say it is marginalised but the north has fears that it can be marginalised and that the only way to protect itself, because of the state of economic development, educational development and others, is to control the process and to control the system.

“Look, we must tell each other the truth if, indeed, we want a solution to the Nigerian problem. Since 1966, the constitutions we’ve had in this country have been the constitutions produced under military regimes and the military regimes we’ve had have been dominated by the north; given what happened in the counter-coup of July 1966, they’ve never let go.

“And that is why you’ve had that over weighting of issues into the side of the exclusive list. Because if they control the federal government and they have a constitution that has transferred most of the powers to the federal government, then their fears are being addressed. They are protecting themselves. It’s a rational thing.

“The person, right now, who the north believes in, is Buhari. If Buhari were to tell them that, ‘for the stability of Nigeria, in order for things not to fall apart, in order for us to even protect our gains in the north, the north has to give up certain issues; we must devolve issues, certain subjects, from the exclusive list, concurrent list and, also now, at least reserve some issues for the local governments’, and they would trust him; that he’s not selling them out for political reasons.

“The fact that Atiku Abubakar said it, that Ibrahim Babangida said it, they don’t have the same kind of gravitas in the north as Buhari today. That is why I said it’s only Buhari.”

Why North wants to continue ruling Nigeria - Ex-Minister, Akinyemi - Daily Post Nigeria
http://dailypost.ng/2017/09/17/north-wants-continue-ruling-nigeria-ex-minister-akinyemi/?utm_source=DailyPost+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e2fc28b435-Morning_headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7c25dc3ce6-e2fc28b435-227895321

Will comment later...........wait ooooooo that means he has to solve the 97% and 5% mathematics.

Before the unity beggars will realize this it will be too late

He is a yoruba christian.His yoruba muslim pro-caliphates will abuse the hell out of him.

“The person, right now, who the north believes in, is Buhari. If Buhari were to tell them that, ‘for the stability of Nigeria, in order for things not to fall apart, in order for us to even protect our gains in the north, the north has to give up certain issues; we must devolve issues, certain subjects, from the exclusive list, concurrent list and, also now, at least reserve some issues for the local governments’, and they would trust him; that he’s not selling them out for political reasons.

Whilst contending for a life and death situation your foe grabs you by the balls and keeps squeezing and continue squeezing to his pleasure and munching gworo to his delight. And you said bro can you let go of my balls so we can discuss amicably?

Hmnn...you think he's gonna let go of such near perfect opportunity and say ok let's discuss like rational beings and share this sumptuous meal fairly together and top it with chilled bottle of burukutu

Hell...NO WAY will be his response. And it is up to you to fight for your life, freedom and better living.

the most sensible opinion ever by a Nigerian politician in modern time.

unfortunately, it will not make sense based on general ethnicity of average nigeria.

The last constitution agreed upon by the regions was the 1963 document. We can still revisit it

While I agree with Akinyemi's analysis of the problem - the northerners (rightly, in my opinion) fear being left in the dust under a more market-oriented, merit-based, decentralized structure of governance - I disagree with his conclusion that Buhari is the right person to address such concerns; the man lacks the intellect, the temperament and the stamina to tackle something so central to Nigeria's problems in any kind of reasonable fashion.

As much as I detest Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, and as unwilling as I am to lift a finger to prevent their being crushed by the Nigerian army, the fact still remains that there are genuine reasons for so many people in the SE to be disgruntled, even though these reasons are actually shared across most of the south instead of being specific to Igbos in particular. The only reason why a unified "Nigeria" ever came into being in the first place was so that the British could use southern revenues to subsidize their northern administration, and that formula has never changed in the intervening 103 years, even if the primary sources of the southern revenues have shifted from cocoa and palm oil to crude oil and business/import taxes. The tragedy of the south is that its leaders have never been able to work together for long enough to put up a unified opposition to this dysfunctional state of the affairs, a problem which long predates the current APC government, all the way back to Zik deciding to ally with the NCNC back in 1960.

INCOMING

steemlord:
the most sensible opinion ever by a Nigerian politician in modern time.

unfortunately, it will not make sense based on general ethnicity of average nigeria.

It's not only about being sensible or not but will the north agree to such an arrangement that'll usher in fairness and justice to all

Aren't we in the present quagmire because they've always kicked against moves to restructure the country for the betterment of all concerned cos it suits their selfish interests?

T9ksy:



Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that the Sardunna would not have agreed to this unworkable union unless he is given the leadership role but zik (and his people) were all for this fake One Nigeria ..........at all cost believing in due time, they will be able to wrestle power from the northerners.

And in the 2015 elections, Did Zik PUSH Tinubu to align with Buhari against Southern interest? Did Zik encourage all Yoruba media, commentators and even scholars to support Buhari because of political appointment. Did Zik also tell nairaland yorubas to continue hating igbos and wishing them downfall?

Yeah we all know that one part of Nigeria is full of bloodsucking parasites

T9ksy:



Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that the Sardunna would not have agreed to this unworkable union unless he is given the leadership role but zik (and his people) were all for this fake One Nigeria ..........at all cost believing in due time, they will be able to wrestle power from the northerners.

Most gullible people don't even understand or differentiate btw what is “One Nigeria” (or United Nigeria) and "living in the same geographical location or territory. If you and I can know the difference btw the two, then we know where to stand in solving there perennial problems confrronting us as Nigeria.

“One Nigeria” as credited to Zik, means unity in the true sense of it, that we live in peace without fear or favour for any section of the country like in US, Britain and so on, where there's no politics of Quota System or Federal Character which is not even observed by the sitting govt, without thinking the intelligence of the Constitution. Imagine, not even the custodians of our constitution, that is, Law-makers, have called the president to order or take a drastic action to uphold the constitution.

Some have known “One Nigeria” to mean living in same territory. For example, they say “One Nigeria” and still favour a particular section against the others in federal appointments, saying you trust them, that's WHY you appointed them, while used the resources of other sections to enrich the section you have appointed and want them not to complain. The true “One Nigeria” is a situation where the sole constitution is used to address every section of the country. For example, saying “One Nigeria,” you disclose openly the criteria adopted in political or federal appointments. Let the people know the “merit or competence yardsticks" used for govt appointments. This should be applicable to State and Local govts.

In my view, the federal character or quota system should be abolished. Merit or competency anchored on transparency is the hallmark for advancement and true development. This would motivate any group or section either major or minor for advancement. If merit or competency is adopted in recruitments, school admissions, appointments in the eyes of transparency, I believe minority groups like IJAWS, IBIBIO, IDOMAS etc, will NEVER agitate against marginalization because they have well-endowed professionals from all walks of life as from other major groups like HAUSAS/FULANIS, IGBOS & YORUBAS.

BudeYahooCom:
He is a yoruba christian.His yoruba muslim pro-caliphates will abuse the hell out of him.

see this idiot ipob yoots that think he can divide yoruba by religion,

While I support Akinyemi's article, it should not offer an excuse for the terroristic and hateful characteristics of IPOB. I know ipob minions will come here to justify their hate speech with this article.

We must find another avenue, a collective south, that will end political corruption and bad leadership, regardless of tribes or religion.

Nnamdi Kanu could have been the person to get massive support from the SS SW SE and MB, but he was too blinded by hate, greed and false sense of marginalization.

Agreed, we need to curtail the north's hold onNugeria through regionalism or division, but we can't achieve that under the umbrella of hate and terrorism.