bilms:
*My stand on amalgamation and secession*

By Abdulrazaq Hamzat

Before independence in 1960, we are all aware of the 1914 amalgamation and the claim of lack of consent in the merging of the southern and northern protectorate.

However, while the nation was preparing for independence, any region not pleased with the continuous stay in Nigeria had the opportunity of walking away before independence.

The west could walk away and stay on its own. The east could do the same and so is the north.

As a matter of fact, the north wanted to walk away, due to perceived incompatibility and it made this position known publicly, but the west and east prevailed on the North to stay. Dr Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo told Sardauna of Sokoto, we are the same and we can work on our areas of disagreement.

Sardauna accepted and we all became one nation with the thumb print of God.

The perceived lack of consent, in the 1914 amalgamation, was corrected prior to the independence and all region consented to Nigeria's nationhood.

Even when Sardauna and Awolowo said we should have secession clause in the constitution, incase any region is displeased and want to exit the union, Dr Azikwe argued otherwise.

He insisted that once we have agreed to stay together as one, the nation should become indivisible and indissoluble under God and every region agreed to this indivisibility of our great country.

So, people who insisted that Nigeria is indivisible and indissoluble before independence in 1960, and worked against insertion of secession clause in the independent constitution, without remembering the 1914 amalgamation, cannot turn around and be complaining or raise question about the amalgamation, neither can they be asking for secession, after everyone had invested their political, economic and emotional capital in the nation.

Therefore, we must make the nation work for all, inline with its founding principle of indivisibility and indissolubility.

*Abdulrazaq Hamzat can be reached at discus4now@gmail.com*

ThEGodFaThEr101:
When a man bangs his cranium on a hard concrete floor 4 times daily, 28 days a week, 120 times a month and 1,460 days a year all in the name of Allahu ku boooooom sense will surely depart such fellow.

Eleribu!

epondudu:


Oga counter his fact.....dont spill trash abeg.

ThEGodFaThEr101:
When a man bangs his cranium on a hard concrete floor 4 times daily, 28 days a week, 120 times a month and 1,460 days a year all in the name of Allahu ku boooooom sense will surely depart such fellow.

Eleribu!

ThEGodFaThEr101:

Alainironu ara Galatia

epondudu:


Oga counter his fact.....dont spill trash abeg.

DMerciful:
Are we using the independence constitution now,? Is this the constitution agreed by the so-called regions?

DMerciful:
Are we using the independence constitution now,? Is this the constitution agreed by the so-called regions?

epondudu:

What are their lawmakers doing in the Senate and House of Representatives?.

DMerciful:
The lawmakers cannot remove a constitution where they derived their fraudulent powers. It's we the people that will throw the constitution and the lawmakers to the thrash can and do a sovereign national conference where a people's constitution and not military imposed constitution will be gotten

DMerciful:
Are we using the independence constitution now,? Is this the constitution agreed by the so-called regions?

OfoIgbo:
This Abdulrazak is really lacking upstairs.

Military coups nullified the constitutions. New constitution ought to be derived by the federating units agreeing in a conference to carry on with the union.

The 1999 constitution is an imposition by the military. Every part of Nigeria must go through a conference to agree on a new constitution, seeing that the old ones had been truncated by the military.

So Nigeria is very much divisible, as my Igbo people never agreed on the indivisibility of Nigeria, as proclaimed by 1999 Constitution

gidgiddy:
I laugh when I see Northerners or Yorubas talk about how Sarduana and Zik wanted secession clause in the Nigerian constitution but Zik stopped it

How? How did one man stop two men? Was Zik more influential than Sarduana and Awolowo in colonial Nigeria?

It may be true that Zik did not want secession clause in the constitution but let nobody sell this false narrative that Zik strong armed the North and West to reject secession clause, Zik had no such power to do so

bilms:
*My stand on amalgamation and secession*

By Abdulrazaq Hamzat

Before independence in 1960, we are all aware of the 1914 amalgamation and the claim of lack of consent in the merging of the southern and northern protectorate.

However, while the nation was preparing for independence, any region not pleased with the continuous stay in Nigeria had the opportunity of walking away before independence.

The west could walk away and stay on its own. The east could do the same and so is the north.

As a matter of fact, the north wanted to walk away, due to perceived incompatibility and it made this position known publicly, but the west and east prevailed on the North to stay. Dr Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo told Sardauna of Sokoto, we are the same and we can work on our areas of disagreement.

Sardauna accepted and we all became one nation with the thumb print of God.

The perceived lack of consent, in the 1914 amalgamation, was corrected prior to the independence and all region consented to Nigeria's nationhood.

Even when Sardauna and Awolowo said we should have secession clause in the constitution, incase any region is displeased and want to exit the union, Dr Azikwe argued otherwise.

He insisted that once we have agreed to stay together as one, the nation should become indivisible and indissoluble under God and every region agreed to this indivisibility of our great country.

So, people who insisted that Nigeria is indivisible and indissoluble before independence in 1960, and worked against insertion of secession clause in the independent constitution, without remembering the 1914 amalgamation, cannot turn around and be complaining or raise question about the amalgamation, neither can they be asking for secession, after everyone had invested their political, economic and emotional capital in the nation.

Therefore, we must make the nation work for all, inline with its founding principle of indivisibility and indissolubility.

*Abdulrazaq Hamzat can be reached at discus4now@gmail.com*

bilms:




What is wrong with 1999 constitution?*

"One of the biggest misconceptions is this idea that the 1999 constitution was written by the military. Not True! No single military man was in the constitution drafting committee of 1975/1997 and the CA in 1977. Infact, the 1999 constitution was a replica of the 1979 constitution.

The 1999 Constitution was drafted by a Constitution Debate Co-ordinating Committee headed by Justice Niki Tobi, with Dr. Suleiman Kurmo as deputy. They went round the country collecting memoranda through town hall meetings in Benin, Enugu, Jos, Phc, Kaduna, Kano, Ibadan, Lagos.

...Sokoto. They excluded military formations. After all the debates, the Chairman Tobi said, “In the light of the memoranda and the oral presentation on the 1995 Draft Constitution, it's clear that Nigerians basically opt for the 1979 Constitution with relevant amendments.

They want it, and they've copiously given their reasons for their choice in the different memoranda and oral presentations. So we've recommended the adoption of the 1979 Constitution with relevant amendments from the 1995 Draft Constitution.” Abdulsalami accepted the recommendation.

It's important to unpack this statement. Tobi was saying that based on oral & written submissions, Nigerians preferred the 1979 constitution but with a few amendments extracted from Abacha's jettisoned 1995 draft constitution. Let's look at how the 1979 constitution was drafted...

In 1975, Gen Murtala Muhammed set up the constitution drafting committee headed by eminent jurist FRA Williams. The report of the committee formed the basis for discussions at the 1977 Constituent Assembly chaired by Justice Udo Udoma and had people like MKO Abiola, Bola Ige,Abraham Adesanya, Bisi Onabanjo among the 232 members.

This 1977 CA gave us the 1979 constitution. This is the document the 1999 constitution was based ALMOST WORD FOR WORD. None of the characters involved in the drafting committee or CA in 1975-77 and 1998-99 were military.

According to Simon Kolawole, the 1999 constitution is "pure plagiarism of the 1979 constitution". Exactly as Niki Tobi told us. The only differences were; the 13% derivation, the number of states in the federation (19 States in 1979 & 36 in 1999) and changing of FEDECO to INEC.

Like Simon Kolawole said "The 1999 constitution was NOT written by the military. I also hasten to say that nobody can write a perfect constitution. Even if Prof. Ben Nwabueze, a well-respected constitutional expert, writes a new constitution today, loopholes will surface in a...

...matter of time. That is why laws are dynamic. As loopholes appear, you plug them". I agree with him. The 1999 constitution is not a perfect document. The point is not to throw it away (you can't) it's to fix it. But the fixing must start with the truth..." Yinka Ogunnubi

mrvitalis:

Yes which was a mistake now we don't want again ...na by force ?

OfoIgbo:
This Abdulrazak is really lacking upstairs.

Military coups nullified the constitutions. New constitution ought to be derived by the federating units agreeing in a conference to carry on with the union.

The 1999 constitution is an imposition by the military. Every part of Nigeria must go through a conference to agree on a new constitution, seeing that the old ones had been truncated by the military.

So Nigeria is very much divisible, as my Igbo people never agreed on the indivisibility of Nigeria, as proclaimed by 1999 Constitution

hedonido:


So Nnamdi Azikiwe is now "people"? Why is it that anything or anyone tainted by Islam tends to be an absolute logical wreck? Since Nnamdi Azikiwe supported a particular cause over 60 years ago, then all Igbos 60 years after MUST stick to Nnamdi Azikiwe's egregious position?

Abokki people and their Afonjaaa Mohammedan conquests are very impervious to common sense.

hedonido:


So Nnamdi Azikiwe is now "people"? Why is it that anything or anyone tainted by Islam tends to be an absolute logical wreck? Since Nnamdi Azikiwe supported a particular cause over 60 years ago, then all Igbos 60 years after MUST stick to Nnamdi Azikiwe's egregious position?

Abokki people and their Afonjaaa Mohammedan conquests are very impervious to common sense.