i agree with pd but i will also want he to think about true federaliam, i think is the best.

Nigeria has already break up ,

1. Republic of Boko harams
2. Federal Republic of Igbos & Yoruba


you can never see Yoruba's ,or Igbos friend or marry Hausa's ( i am talking of majorities)

Posted by: Beaf

[size=14pt]efribodi go ya papa house[/size]

Una no go kill me with laff for nairaland lai lai.

Beaf, you sure say you no be part-time comedian?

^
My broda, its called suffering and smiling!

okada_man:

Actually it is possible. What we need is the political and social will ( I mean balls). You can't invite me to a discussion about my future and at the same time tell me i must live within your terms by force. I need to have a choice to Leave if the agreement is not favourable.

Keeping separation on the table serves both psychological and practical purposes.

Me too I think about separation everyday I wake up in a country forced to exist on a[b] forged PDP constitution written and administered by criminal leaders like OBJ, Late Yar'ardu, GEJ and their fellow "Owners of Nigeria"  and ex-military coup plotters like IBB and his boys[/b].

Correction to the dangerous assertion (bolded).
The constitution was not written by any political party, neither was it written under a democratic setting. It was rammed down our throats by Gen. Abubakar. The first versions being written by Gen Babangida and Gen. Abacha. It was carefully crafted so they could continue seeping Nigeria's juices forever.
The best way to get out of the mess is a national conference.

d president has employed Israeli guards for himself and now make Bokom Haram kill us finish in the name of one Nigeria.Ole

[/code]Quote
‘Nigeria won’t break up’
“The country that will disintegrate, you can get it by the study of the psyche of the people. During the civil war, the South Easterners were the bulk of members of the proposed new country called Biafra. Now, the Igbos have investments across the country. Go to the South-West, go to the North. As small as my village is, Nigerians from North, East and West have bought land. People who want to disintegrate will begin to shift back into their own geo political zones. The behaviour of Nigerians show that we are not really going to disintegrate. People look at us because of our ethnic diversity and begin to predict that we will disintegrate. We will not disintegrate. I will not preside over a country that will disintegrate and I assure you that from now till 2015 Nigeria must remain one  united nation.[code]

What will happen after 2015 ??

The prediction by US is after 2015 and not before 2015.
it is now clear that even the president knows that the country will surely divide itself after 2015.

atleast Arewa people can have their sharia state ,with Boko haram as the sharia police to checkmate
drinking of boost in the open but consumption secretly is allowed,cutting of people d.i.c.k,if ever it was
discover one chew some gir-ly's pu-na-ny, ,, etc

@beaf.The funny part of this is that you and I argued it out and I warned in 2009 that if an SNC is not organized,a lot of militia will spring up across the nation.The most dreaded will arise in Akwaibom and could consume this country.Every other of my predictions has occured apart from the Efik/Ibibio militia which might not be far fetched.

True federalism has to be applied based on our present 36 state structure.The bombings will stop and everybody will be happy.That will also reduce the power of the central Government.

@ abagworo, expantiate on the efik/ibibio tribal militia as in how its likely to develop and will be their goal

careytommy:

@ abagworo, expantiate on the efik/ibibio tribal militia as in how its likely to develop and will be their goal

I am not an SSS or a CIA agent and hence rely on my personal intelligence gathering from interaction with different Nigerians and their grievances.The Efik/Ibibio are actually the 4th largest ethnic group in Nigeria and the most populous in the Niger Delta.A lot of the youths now believe that only violence will attract FGs attention to their plight.In reality this majority ethnic group is marginalised in the South-south arrangement.

who is the president to think he knows the desire of over 150million Nigerians? Lets discuss the foundation of this entity called Nigeria once gain. The terms of our being together if that is exactly what we want. i for one believe past reports from previous conferences most likely wont fully satisfy the needs of today. Our foundation of our building is faulty there is no remedial patch patch that can be done to avoid it from crumbling.was Boko Haram existing then? Was PDP existing then? etc these are factors that are miserably shaking our foundation. The NASS as it is now cant satisfy this yearnings.

WE NEED a SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE NOW

Abagworo:

@beaf.The funny part of this is that you and I argued it out and I warned in 2009 that if an SNC is not organized,a lot of militia will spring up across the nation.The most dreaded will arise in Akwaibom and could consume this country.Every other of my predictions has occured apart from the Efik/Ibibio militia which might not be far fetched.

True federalism has to be applied based on our present 36 state structure.The bombings will stop and everybody will be happy.That will also reduce the power of the central Government.

No part of your so called prediction has come to pass. You were talking rubbish then as you still are now, because your peeps were arranging boko haram. Don't worry, your time is coming.

why would Nigeria Break Up

I hope we can discuss on how to credibly arrest those who had looted allour funds before the conference


Whats the process? How is the arrangement? Who can attend?? when will it begin?

we are watching because the dramma will soon begin.

Nigeria will eventually part away but i pray it works out peacefully,

AS 4ME LET NOT NIGERIA BREAK UP.BUT LET D NORTHERN MALAM STOP KILLING OTHER TRIBE, BUT LET THEM KILL ONLY THEY PAPA,MAMA,SIS AND BRO. SO WE CAN LIVE TOGETHER AS ONE.but anything short of dat BREAK-UP BREAK-UP NOW NOW WITHOUT BLOOD.
NA MY OWN BE DAT NO OFFENSE. @ D NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Some of us just shout SNC without criticallly analyzing its feasibility and success. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think the SNC won't work! Our best bet is to go our seperate ways. Here are my reasons:

1. How are we going to elect/select people that will represent all interests at the "Sovereign National Conference"? With the level of corruption in our system, it will be difficult to elect credible people and if you opt for selection, who will select who? I can bet that politicians will hijack the process as usual.

2. SNC will require a constitutional amendment since the President swore an oath to defend the sovereignty of Nigeria. Not sure the National Assembly and the State Assemblies will readily pass that amendment since the SNC will be usurping their authorities and they already believe they are true representatives of the people. In actual fact, how can you justify that they are not since you elected them?

3. If we are unable to get SNC and we get a National Conference, its report would be sent as a bill to the National Assembly and therefore subject to their review. So if a particular section of the country that has majority of the members in the NASS does not like a particular decision of the conference, they have an opportunity to kill that decision at the NASS and we are back to square one. This would most likely happen.

The SNC will not solve the problem of this forced marriage. Our best bets is to split into smaller nations which would be as homogenous as possible. People with common history would understand themselves better and if there are conflicts, they can use their common cultural heritage to sue for peace. For example, Yoruba Christians and Muslims co-habit peacefully with the understanding that both religions are not traditional but foreign and should not break the chord of motherhood that joined them. That is why it is difficult to find a Yoruba muslim who will take up arm with his Christian kinsman because at the end of the day, you would be killing your cousin, brother, Uncle and even parents! The North has almost everything culturally different from the South - Language, Religion, Philosophy of life, traditional beliefs, dressing etc.

Please let us all go our seperate ways!

I do not wish for the break-up of our darling Nigeria but it is important we have a truly sovereign National conference to discuss how to Make this alliance work.

planetone:

I do not wish for the break-up of our darling Nigeria but it is important we have a truly sovereign National conference to discuss how to Make this alliance work.

SNC is not realistic!!!

We should have a referendum TODAY on the issue. A UN supervised referendum in the North and South, on what sort of future the long suffering citizens of Nigeria actually want.

Beaf:

Correction to the dangerous assertion (bolded).
The constitution was not written by any political party, neither was it written under a democratic setting. It was rammed down our throats by Gen. Abubakar. The first versions being written by Gen Babangida and Gen. Abacha. It was carefully crafted so they could continue seeping Nigeria's juices forever.
The best way to get out of the mess is a national conference.

There is nothing dangerous about it.

Abdulsalami + IBB + Abacha( now represented by his former civilian and military sycophants) + OBJ and other nigeria owners are mostly part of the PDP today.

Anyway, the point is separation must stay on the table, else it's not a serious SNC, we have to start from the foundation.

@ abagworo, nah everybody dey claim 4th largest now, hope we nor go fight war over this 4th largest issue. Ijaw people don claim 4th largest too.

Abagworo:

@beaf.The funny part of this is that you and I argued it out and I warned in 2009 that if an SNC is not organized,a lot of militia will spring up across the nation.The most dreaded will arise in Akwaibom and could consume this country.Every other of my predictions has occured apart from the Efik/Ibibio militia which might not be far fetched.

True federalism has to be applied based on our present 36 state structure.The bombings will stop and everybody will be happy.That will also reduce the power of the central Government.

In order to contemplate the silly idea of national conference, the sense of equality must be created in Nigeria. Since Nigeria has been politically segregated into zones, I demand the each zonal block must have equal number of states because it is politically unfair for certain zones to have more senators than others. After all democracy, among other things, is all about numbers.

It is politically insane to insinuate that any form of federalism in Nigeria should be based on 36 states. One can only begin to talk of federalism in Nigeria when all the vying political zones are equal in number of states which shall be pegged at 42, thus 7 states for each zone.

There is no doubt Nigeria had a subliminal division based on the original regions such as northern, western and eastern regions. Among these regions, one region has been singled out for denial of befitting International airport. The federal government of Nigeria must erect International airport of MMA or NAA status in eastern region before stepping onto the path of federalism. If these requests are viewed unattainable, I strongly suggest the disintegration of the cesspit called Nigeria.

Nigeria will never break up! simple

Aside from the current maintenance of the state of things, we have two options. Federalism or Split, and we are a long way from either of those two, in my opinion.

I wish Jonathan can influence the house to adopt true federalism.That will just end all our woes instantly.

Nigeria is gonna break up believe me. Get ready for WAR.

X-factoria:

Some of us just shout SNC without criticallly analyzing its feasibility and success. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think the SNC won't work! Our best bet is to go our seperate ways. Here are my reasons:

1. How are we going to elect/select people that will represent all interests at the "Sovereign National Conference"? With the level of corruption in our system, it will be difficult to elect credible people and if you opt for selection, who will select who? I can bet that politicians will hijack the process as usual.

2. SNC will require a constitutional amendment since the President swore an oath to defend the sovereignty of Nigeria. Not sure the National Assembly and the State Assemblies will readily pass that amendment since the SNC will be usurping their authorities and they already believe they are true representatives of the people. In actual fact, how can you justify that they are not since you elected them?

3. If we are unable to get SNC and we get a National Conference, its report would be sent as a bill to the National Assembly and therefore subject to their review. So if a particular section of the country that has majority of the members in the NASS does not like a particular decision of the conference, they have an opportunity to kill that decision at the NASS and we are back to square one. This would most likely happen.

The SNC will not solve the problem of this forced marriage. Our best bets is to split into smaller nations which would be as homogenous as possible. People with common history would understand themselves better and if there are conflicts, they can use their common cultural heritage to sue for peace. For example, Yoruba Christians and Muslims co-habit peacefully with the understanding that both religions are not traditional but foreign and should not break the chord of motherhood that joined them. That is why it is difficult to find a Yoruba muslim who will take up arm with his Christian kinsman because at the end of the day, you would be killing your cousin, brother, Uncle and even parents! The North has almost everything culturally different from the South - Language, Religion, Philosophy of life, traditional beliefs, dressing etc.

Please let us all go our seperate ways!

I don't agree 100%.
Even if we need to break up, there must be changes to the constitution (or its outright suspension) to allow for that. The process will still need to pass through the NASS whichever way it goes. Its the only way to go without open warfare.
I believe we can push for true federalism through the NASS and that can blossom into further demands from the voices on the street; the strength of those voices will determine our final direction.

Beaf:

I don't agree 100%.
Even if we need to break up, there must be changes to the constitution (or its outright suspension) to allow for that. The process will still need to pass through the NASS whichever way it goes. Its the only way to go without open warfare.
I believe we can push for true federalism through the NASS and that can blossom into further demands from the voices on the street; the strength of those voices will determine our final direction.

Ok. For the sake of argument let's say we leave it to the NASS to deliberate and vote on the laws, constitutional amendments or even suspension of the old constitution. How do you address Dede1's concerns?

Dede1 is essentially saying that the National assebmlly is a product of fraud and I agree with him.

I do not see how this NASS can address fundamental issues on behalf of all Nigerian nationalities when they do not represent all ethnic nationalities, they were not chosen based on our needs, they represent at best a narrow shade of political or elitist opinion in Nigeria (the CPC, ACN or PDP agenda is not necessarily the same as a  Kanuri, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Edo, Ijebu, Ekiti, Efik, Idoma, Ibibio, Ijaw or Ogoni Agenda).

Who will fight for the Ijaw cause, who will fight for the Igbo cause, what of Yoruba? Nupe, Bachama, Ibibio, Junkun, Ikale, Ebira. e.t.c

For example,  I want us to divide political zones based on culture, language and regions or states something along that line, give them broad autonomy to make local laws and teach my local dialect up to secondary school age.

I want many things these NASS cannot even articulate on my behalf. I don't blame them, they were not elected because they are smart or ideological or because they have a grasp of my people's history or undestand how to fight for us. No!

They were selected because they are greedy and corrupt enough, because they are brutal enough, can bribe better, or steal ballot boxes and kill opponents better than others, all in a bid to get to Abuja and share the loot with people like them.

They can't represent me. But because I understand your point and since like you, I'm not yet ready to shed blood, I'll offer a compromise:

This is just a framework of what I have in mind:


1. We can have another independent body (independent of NASS and the executive) voted for and given the mandate to make a new constitution, set a new agreement for a totally new Nation.

2. No NASS member is allowed to be a part of it, except they resign their position, same for all Governors and all other officials including the president. It can be done by executive fiat or NASS can constitute it.

3. Their mandate is simple: come up with a new Nigeria based on agreed-to-terms.

Any group that fails to vote the final document cannot be a part of Nigeria. They should have a right to form their own country. They can join The New Nation when they agree to the New document.

4. The members of this temporary constitutional conference or body must be elected by the people on local language basis, e.g all 250+ languages and ethnicities must be identified and given a chance to vote at their designated homestead for their own representatives.

5. All existing "tribe" in Nigeria must be identified. Every "ethnic group" has one vote at the final stage. if Ekiti or Ijesha align themselves with Yoruba it's just one vote, so beware. If Fulani form Hausa, same thing. If Ishan form Edo? One vote, if Okrika form Ijaw? One vote. But is you split according to your dialect, then you have a vote to yourself if you combine with a larger group, you all have one vote together.  It's up to you.

6. This body will receive only Minimum wage and zero allowances while meeting at their local homestead before they move to Abuja (or any designated central location) for the final deliberation and voting. They will get a fixed amount for accomodation when they get to the central location to vote. Shikena! no hidden allowances.

7. If you do not have the ability to selflessly deliberate and argue ideologically on behalf of your people it's better you just vote for your representative and go wait at home. There will be no financial reward beyond the stipend mentioned.

Note:  NONE of these representatives can seek elective post in the new Nigeria till they die. That must be engraved in the final constitution. Their names will be remembered for posterity.

8. They must elect 3 representatives each to deliberate for them at the center, but the final voting on each aspects of the constitution/agreement must be done by all elected ethnic representatives and it will read as one vote. The "ethnic group' should reserve the right to recall a representative.

9. Final vote must be binding on the present government and the must dissolve the present government. Final document must  call for new elections, which shall be conducted on the basis of the new laws. The job of the body ends when they New Nigerian Constitution becomes Law.

10. Duration is 1 year, it can only be changed by majority vote by the body itself.


Note: There will be no religious representative, all religions will be recognized but the nation shall remain secular.

I have more. . .everything is not for NL.

^
You still have the chicken and egg situation.
The NASS is the only body with the constitutional power to create or modify laws.

Our constitution also provides for three independent arms of govt:

[list]
[li]The National Assembly (creates laws)[/li]
[li]The Judiciary (interprets laws and arbitrates)[/li]
[li]The Executive (executes laws and governs)[/li]
[/list]

If the Executive attempts to usurp the job of the NASS, the country will be thrown into a deep crisis of unimaginable proportions. The NASS must be carried along, there is no way to avoid it.

I quite like some of your suggestions though, particularly this one:

5. All existing "tribe" in Nigeria must be identified. Every "ethnic group" has one vote at the final stage. if Ekiti or Ijesha align themselves with Yoruba it's just one vote, so beware. If Fulani form Hausa, same thing. If Ishan form Edo? One vote, if Okrika form Ijaw? One vote. But is you split according to your dialect, then you have a vote to yourself if you combine with a larger group, you all have one vote together.  It's up to you.

I made a similar suggestion for the restructuring of the NASS here on NL in 2010 (to eliminate ethnic bigotry in politics). The idea is that each ethnicity would need to cooperate with about 300 other distinct groups to reach any agreement. lol

^

Yes you are right there is a difficult chicken and egg situation. That in the big problem we have to creatively deal with. The solution is not simple. It might take total chaos to solve it.

The NASS will not give up power just like that, so we have to help them. One way is to appeal to their self interest, since Nass membership is not forever. We can give incentives by making sure the final dissolution is as close to the present NASS's end of term as possible.

We can also appeal to their massive greed and ego by allowing them to declare the body legal and independent. You and I know 90% of these pot bellied idiots are about the money. I'm not trying to patronize you, you are probably smarter than half of the house of assembly combined, and that is not saying anything big deal about your intelligence. 

These people did not get there because they have any ideology or vision. They got there because they are brutal and greedy enough to play.

Beaf, i must stress, these things cannot happen in the absence of a strong executive leadership. GEJ is uniquely positioned to offer that if he's selfless and visionary enough. The Nigerian presidency is a very powerful position presently. There are enough carrots to dangle, enough strings to pull and he has immunity.

I know regular Nigerians will back Mr President if he can push this. The alternative is all out chaos and we really don't want to take our people down that road.

Selflessness and vision is key

^
I think it amounts to a situation that requires massive wisdom and guile (little else matters), which I believe the President is capable of deploying. IMHO, the fact that he has expressed support for such a cause means he is of the belief that Nigeria needs a revolution to succeed. It is how that revolution is midwifed without stirring up enormous entropies thats the unenviable challenge resting on his shoulders.

The Presidency is very powerful indeed, but the Nigerian political terrain is just as fractious and explosive. I am sure there will be some mobilisation moves to gain the peoples and back up his direction in due time. Any success would depend totally on if the masses have been carried along.

There really is little hope for Nigeria without empowering the people toward a controlled revolution. These are just my thoughts and hopes.