Revolution imminent in Nigeria –Braithwaite

Why is Nigeria not developed?
The centre is over-burdened. The resultant effect is that the bulk of the people of this country are not liberated. The energies of the people of this country are trapped . Devolve power to the zones and you will liberate the human, natural and material resources. Human resources are the most potent and valuable resources in any nation, in terms of education, opportunities.

I am not talking about a lot of universities mushrooming all over the place, producing half-baked graduates. Every Tom Dick and Harry is setting up universities but that is not the answer. Until we devolve power to the various zones, there can be no development in this country.

For Nigeria to be developed, there are three factors that should be put into consideration. One, the constitution must be surgically handled for immediate national development. There is the issue of corruption. About a year ago, I put up an advertorial, corruption is king. It must be dethroned before you can move forward. Corruption is systemic. It is all over the place. The legislative, executive, even the judiciary.

They (the government) don’t want to convene a national conference because you have National Assembly. Then we are going to get to a situation where governance in Nigeria will become difficult. The National Assembly as presently constituted cannot reform itself. The cost of running the National Assembly in this country is high. The young ones are not motivated. Many have gone out of the country. The ones that remain here are working under extreme hardship. Because of the backward kind of government.

The constitution that protects corrupt public office holders should be a source of worry to everybody. The public office holders can get away with anything, even murder. They steal the country blind and the constitution protects them.

Elections came, but were those elections free and fair? We are declaring ourselves a democratic country. No. Nigeria’s democracy is far from being a democracy. That we hold periodic elections does not make us a democracy. Are Nigerians really free in their own country? Are they participating in the development of their country? Even the accolades these international do-gooders give you; they give you all that for what they intend to take away from this country in terms of resources.

Boko Haram is a protest
I see Boko Haram as a protest. People are very irresponsible to come out and generalize that some big men in the North are sponsoring them. That is an irresponsible statement. If the government or the security agencies are saying that, they don’t realize that kind of declaration is a self-indictment on the part of the government and the security agencies. If they know the sponsors, why don’t they name the sponsors for the public to know? Again, we have a near irresponsible government agency, just putting out lies and unsubstantiated claims.

We have to put this matter in a proper context. Boko Haram must have been targeting the government , and I pray it does not become indiscriminate. So far from the report, the people that are being targeted are government people. And I see that as merely symbolic.
But for goodness sake, let us recognize Boko Haram for what it stands for. I don’t know any member of Boko Haram. But it is deep-seated oppression like injustice and corruption that necessitated these actions.

We have to sit together and find out what is troubling this country. It is Boko Haram today; it may be another protesting organization tomorrow. These things do not just begin spontaneously. They evolve.

National Assembly cannot amend the constitution
Before we give them (National Assembly) an agenda, we have said that the cost of governance, the cost of maintaining them is disproportionate. They do not merit it. We can use what we spend on them for infrastructural development in this country. We have said it for the umpteenth time that we are not running a federal system. What we are running for the moment is a unitary system. Let me say it again, power must be devolved to the zones.

There is inconsistency in policies and due process is not given pre-eminence in everything we do in this country. Today, it is one policy. Next year it is another policy. For democracy to yield what you call dividends, there must be transparency, and there must be accountability by everybody. None of these is in place in this country. I don’t see this National Assembly being able to amend the constitution.

Nigeria is a failed state
The fact that a few people are benefiting from the contraption called the Nigerian nation does not make it a stable state. Nigeria is definitely a failed state. Nigeria will continue to be a failed state until that revolution. Revolution needs not be bloody. You have seen revolution in Egypt. In Tunisia, I am not talking about Libya. The revolution started just by mere resistance. Just by mere resistance. And people demanded that they wanted a nation where there is freedom. Not many people will believe that Egypt, ancient as it is, “modern” as it is; there is no freedom. People took to the streets. Mubarak government with the support of the international community when the protests started did not take them serious. In a matter of months, the government was brought down, without violence.

The Nigeria situation has reached the point where we have to consider putting aside all the charade that we institute through shamble of elections. As long as corruption remains the king, we have to set up an interim administration, involving people with credible credentials to take a hard look at the fundamentals of nation building. If we continue to deceive ourselves, I will not be surprised that even the four years term of this new government would not even be realized.

There must be revolution in Nigeria in spite of ethnic differences
The more reason why there should be a revolution is because of the diversity; to take account of all the diversities and fashion a nation where everybody will be happy to be part of. This is fundamental. In fact, these diversities constitute more of the strength of this nation.

I will never agree to a situation when we will say let everybody go its own way, no. We can be together yet exercise autonomy, under the same national bond. In Canada for instance, there are different ethnic groups under the nationhood of Canada. Even the United States of America(USA), although they speak one language, they are very different in their various cultures.
The Igbos, Hausa, Yorubas, Ijaws, Nupes and others are brothers and sisters, but we must not allow this different culture to constitute disagreement. What will constitute disagreement as I have told you is corruption and corruption stands across the entire ethnic divides. Destroy corruption and you have a harmonious Nigeria; various ethnic nationalities living harmoniously and developing the country. Because each zone will use its resources in a competitive manner. Competition is good among zones. We would have produced indigenous engineers of world-class standards and we will attract Nigerians and we will attract Nigerians from Diaspora.

I did say during one of my campaigns that no part of this country is barren. No part of this country is a desert. But we have concentrated only on oil, because oil facilitates corruption. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is anoil and gas magnate. They neglect agriculture.
The entire northern zone is an agricultural fertile zone. From plateau area, you could generate one billion naira per day from dairy products. Do you know how much we spend importing dairy products to this country? And you can produce that from the plateau area.
It is not the ethnic diversity. It is corruption. Destroy corruption; give people freedom in their zones and you will have a great nation.

The removal of petroleum subsidy
The removal of subsidy could create greater hardship and burden for the people, because corruption is king. Prior to the removal of subsidy, dethrone king corruption first, and then have a judiciary that will punish crime without fear or favour. Set up people’s court. Deal with fat rats. The only problem is that those that will put these in place will not be disposed in dethroning King Corruption, because they are the princes. Then we are back to square one.

The way to fight corruption in the country
Very simple. You said you have set up anti-corruption agencies. The implementation has always been dubious. For instance, you have to put peoples’ court in place. Peoples Court will dispense justice expeditiously. Those in charge of enforcing the anti-corruption law are totally incapable of doing that. You have to have Peoples’ court. You have to clean up the Police Force. The security agencies. The security agencies must be thoroughly cleansed up. Once you do that, the fear of God will return to these people.

People like myself who are calling for a revolution; we are trying to save the country from greater convulsion. Catastrophic convulsion. That is what we are trying to do. But the matter will soon be out of our hands.


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