“can go back to fight a war to keep this country together even at 71…, some people are saying that “should anything happen to President Jonathan, forget about Nigeria” and so on. I know those who are saying this. Yes, they are supporters of the President. But I know the President is a sensible person so don’t waste your time saying that the world would come to an end if something happens to your son. Of course he is your son but he is our President. I have always respected these people but these things that they say amaze me. These are the same people that went to school, people who went to universities, people that are educated and people who have held positions of responsibility. There is a doctrine known as the ”Doctrine of Nigeria’s Settled Issues” and nobody should attempt to tamper with them. Number one, I don’t want any one of us to tamper with anything to do with Nigerian unity. Number two, the republican constitution is also a settled issue, more or less. Number three, the states are the federating units of this country and number four we are a capitalist country. Anybody that wants to talk about this country must make sure that he doesn’t do anything that will disrupt these basic settled issues in our political life. Anyone that is talking about dismembering this country you should not listen to him. If we see such things as ”christian south” and ”muslim north” we should disregard it. Even if such people say it the media should ignore it because you know it is not the truth, so you should not even write it”-

GENERAL IBRAHIM BABANGIDA, The Daily Trust Annual Dialogue, Abuja, 26th January 2012.

I have nothing but the deepest respect and affection for General Ibrahim Babangida and those that know me can attest to this. He is not only a great and profoundly good man that has sacrificed so much for our nation but he is also one of the very few truly detribalised leaders who genuinely and honestly love Nigeria and who passionately believe that the interest of every Nigerian is better served if our country remains as one.

I do not for one minute doubt General Babangida’s sincerity of purpose or his deep sense of patriotism. Anyone that can take a bullet to keep Nigeria one must always be given his due respect and honour. Yet despite my personal feelings and affection for the General I am afraid that, from an intellectual and political perspective, I have to respectfully and humbly disagree with him on this issue. I do not believe that there is any such thing as a ”Doctrine of Settled Issues” in our body polity and neither, in my view, is Nigeria as we know it today a sacrosanct, unbreakable or unchangeable union.

It is trite that the only thing that is certain in the life of men and nations is change. Whether we like it or not change is like an irresistable tide and, when its time comes, it is like a moving train and a raging wind which crushes or blows away anyone or anything that stands in it’s way.

You either bend with it or you break. I am a student of history and it may interest those that subscribe to this rather arcane and anachronistic theory known as the ”Doctrine Of Settled Issues” that Nigeria remains the only mega-nation and forced union of incompatibles that the British colonial masters cobbled together at the beginning of the 20th century that still remains together today. There were actually three in all and the other two, namely the Sudan and India, have broken into two and three pieces respectively over the years. Why should Nigeria be any different?

More importantly why should we be told that Nigeria MUST be different? Would this have been so if there was oil in the north? Again when one considers the delightful and miraculous ”crumbling” of the almighty Soviet Union (another forced artificial union) or the breaking up of the old Yugoslavia and the emancipation and creation of numerous new countries in the Balkans and eastern Europe which came as a consequence of that magnificent change. I ask again, why should Nigeria be any different?

The words of the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher are instructive here. In the September 2, 1991 edition of Newsweek she said, ”the lesson of this century is that countries put together artificially will fall apart. National identities will not be suppressed”. Twenty years after these famous words were spoken we are beginning to witness their relevance and veracity in Nigeria. The right to self-determination and to forcefully resist what many feel is an internal colonial system is a legitimate and inalienable right of all free men and women. You cannot hold me down and keep me in your house on your own terms and deny me the right to be free or to say or do as I please.

If you do not treat me fairly and if you continue to make me feel worthless and full of fear of your terror and ability to inflict violence on me and mine, then eventually, whether you like it or not, I will leave. No one signed their life or their future away to bondage and none of us subscribed to the view that decisions about our country and our furure can and have been made by our past leaders and heroes and that they can no longer be changed or altered. I say that they can if the circumstances determine that this must be so. And if you do not give us our rights eventually we will exercise them by force and regardless of how you feel.

As much as I am amongst those that have criticised the Goodluck Jonathan administration forcefully, objectively and vigorously over some of their policies in the last few months let me make two things clear. Firstly my criticisms are borne out of my concern for our country and nothing else. I have nothing against Mr. President personally other than the fact that by not getting it right he is playing into the hands of the ”born to rule” northern cabal who believe that he does not have a right to be President simply because he is an Ijaw man. This cabal believes that no southerner should have the right to rule in peace without being told what to do or being teleguided or controlled by them.

They have sworn to make the country ungovernable for Jonathan and we are now seeing the results of that threat. For the record let me just warn these ethnic supremacists that they must not misconstrue the position that some of us have taken when it comes to this government and it’s policies as an endorsement of their deeply conspiratorial and despicable ethnic agenda. I should also add that Jonathan must not die under any mysterious circumstances. If this were to happen there would be no Nigeria left afterwards. This is because we that are from the south, together with our compatriots from the Middle Belt will rise up, join hands together and resist the Phillistines, the Amalekites and the usurpers in our midst to the last man.

By the time it is all over they will know that it is only when you kill a madman that you will know that he has friends and family. The new Nigeria has no place and no room for those that believe in the ”born to rule” philosophy or those that subscribe to any form of Boko Harm or Taliban-style islamic fundamentalism. We will not tolerate it, we will not bow to it and we will resist it with every fibre of our being.

I have said it before and I will say it again- if Nigeria is not a place that every ethnic nationality is regarded as being equal and is treated as such then let there be no more Nigeria. There is nothing that is sacrosanct about a forced union of incompatibles. If you are in a bad marriage you get out of it before you kill each other. The Lugardian ”poor husband of the north” cannot force the ”rich wife of the south” to remain in this unholy and iniquitous union for much longer unless the terms are right and unless there is equity and justice for all.

The mistake we made in 1967 by not standing on Aburi will not be repeated. The days of the master/servant relationship that we have witnessed between the north and the south for 51 years of our national existence are long over and they shall never return again. This country is moving forward and she is not going back and if Presdent Goodluck Jonathan can just get his act together and vigorously resist the hegemonist giants in the land he would have my full support and that of millions of others. This is the time for a new vision for our country. It is the time for new leaders who are ready to stand up and speak the truth about our precarious state of affairs and about the direction in which our nation must go. It is the time to talk about the convening of a Sovereign National Conference and to answer the Nationality Question. It is the time for courage. Let us not take our unity for granted or treat it as ”a given”. Nigeria must change, she must be restructured, she must be reformed and she must make every single ”Nigerian” believe that he or she can get to the top regardless of their nationality or faith. Other than that, whether we like it or not, Nigeria will eventually break.

Chief Femi Fani-Kayode is a two time former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Nice writeup.

^^^
Its indeed nice. It's just a shame that people did not see this earlier. . . .us, southerners start insulting and even threatened eachother in such shameful acts. One nairaland even called the protest ethnic bigotry in full shame for all to see. . . . Others said it was sold high in the "South East" anyway. See logic?! Now that its higher, will it not be sold at even higher price in the "south east"?

Another said the policy is a way of fighting the cabals (who by the way, sponsored GEJ's election). I'll use this wonderful analogy I found here:

If a bully(cabal) has been taking your son's food (son= masses, food=subsidy) in school (nigeria). What will you do?

Stop giving your son food OR confront the bully, directly or indirectly?

True. . .like Jesus will come again for sure.
The problems are:
1. When?
2. Into how many fragments?
Now, that is what I wanno know.
So I can plan my escape route to NORTHERN NIGERIA!

I nor fit live for Nigeria with Igbo and Yoruba people o! Kai!!!

Na only Northerners dey make me like Nigeria. If at all.
North and South should merge. While East and West would go to one side. Add Middle Belt to their group abeg!
I would like that very much!

North and South for ever. . . .Iseeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

The guy is sounding like me. lol

On a very serious note, the guys spoke almost like a non-Yoruba (no pun intended please) -he spoke point blank.

What we need in the south and middle belt, is more and more of this type of talk, supported by ALL necessary body language that tells the core North in clearest terms that their days of born to rule bazaar in Nigeria is over; for good.

If we continue this line of action, mark my word, Nigeria will be resolved BEFORE 2015, without a single shot fired.

Every other Nigerian is now a prophet. Only if they will at least tell us when this will happen. 2015? 100 years from now? And can we hold them to it?

This is the clown part of IBB's brilliant brain showing up. I am laughing my head off at the thought of anyone saying the below about Nigeria, talkless of IBB who did more than any previous ruler to ensure that none of it really came to be.

There are so many oxymorons in this brief statement:

1. Nigerian Unity - that is like anyone believing that the United Nations is the same as the nations of the earth being united.
2. The only Republican Constitution for Nigeria is one that is yet to be written.
3. States as federating units - Really? With every state under the stamp of the president who can deploy the army wether the state wants it or not? Where products of the state first go to the Federal government who then decides who gets what?
4. Capitalist Country - capitalism must have a different Nigerian definition perhaps the "everyone has a price" invented by IBB himself. Otherwise, this is just looney talk.
5. Settled issues - there are no settled issues except that change is certain, and perhaps that we will pay taxes and eventually die.

It is these false patriots found on almost all sides of any issue in Nigeria that will ensure this country collapses under its own weight in the no distant future.

Number one, I don’t want any one of us to tamper with anything to do with Nigerian unity. Number two, the re[b]publican constitution is also a settled issue[/b], more or less. Number three, the states are the federating units of this country and number four we are a capitalist country. Anybody that wants to talk about this country must make sure that he doesn’t do anything that will disrupt these basic settled issues in our political life.

This guy took words out of my mouth. He has guts and balls. The fact the guy is well known in Nigerian circles yet he mustered the courage to speak the truth tells so much about him.

Fani, vous etes tres intelligent et je t'aime beaucoup.

@jason123
how come the only part u see in the briliant writeup of mr.kayode is that of protest. let me try to open your eyes a little bit.

many igbos was injured during this protest as much as other tribes. No sane man can aprove of SE protest at the height of killings of their brothers up north.
Do u know that many igbos are at home in their villages during the protest,if they have opportunity to protest,blood will flow bcus of anger of loosing
their bloved up north.

i like your illustration, Look at it this way : if you have 4 children and oneday you get a news that they got accident, and two is already dead while two
is hospitalise and about to die,the same time you receive another news that your office or shop is on fire,Jason answer me which will u worry most about?  

Jason have u been refuse entrance of anytin bcus u r igbo? have u been ask to pay higher than others bcus u r igbo? making an igboman
national IG is diffcult just bcus of igbo? in nigeria oil sector igbos were giving the slimest chances of employment? many igbos change their name just to survive?having an igbo outlook is almost badluck. Can nigeria sincierly vote an igbo qualified presidential candidate without reservations. etc

the protest was defeated b4 it started, it wasn't defined ppls just jump to it blindly,we said it here that they sold out already but none of u sees it. now wat?
If the protest is about coruption in nigeria polity, my bros we the SE dont need to protest about abuja politics first,we will start from our LGA and move up. pls
move more careful on igbo issues.
Look at wat born to rule mentality of hausa/fulani are doing to us,but the onlytin u can see is igbo this and that,u have beginin to sound like those guys across.
Now the NLC sold out are we the cause? wat abt the intention of the strugle? defeated. jason its time to Liberate ourself not finding fault. if SW and NC can
fight the NW/NE first trust igbo man,if we promise to fight and stand with u we does it to the last. but untill that we can move ahead anymore snc our bak is
not covered.

Briliant writeup by mr.kayode:

The mistake we made in 1967 by not standing on Aburi will not be repeated. The days of the master/servant relationship that we have witnessed between the north and the south for 51 years of our national existence are long over and they shall never return again.

words words words my brother. more grace to your elbow, but what can we do when words lack action?

first the middle beltans regretted d war and their role now the Yoruba. yes we accept but the question is who can kick the ball rolling?
if they do just watch and see igbos on-top of the quest to salvage our-selfs from this dungeon. be it by war or referandum.

as for us the igbos we are ready anytime and as for the animosity on the previous war its all over but we only mourn our death and other lost.

Triple gbam to Femi Fani-Kayode for this write up.

It was a nice write up, tainted by the fact that Fani Kayode did not effect any change when he was there, he was just an abuser of people, at least we now know him as someone not to give power but that should be in the opposition.

I respect Fanikayode, he is a man of the people. You can play politics with everything but not with the life of your people. That is why I faulted Okorocha Rochas for politicizing with the lives of Ndigbo. Boko Haram stated that their target is Christians and security personnel. Who are the Christians in Kano? Jonathan assured Ndigbo of security but it didn't work, is it a state governor's assurance that can secure Ndigbo? Over 200 killed and there is no Igbo who are major target? shocked, shocked at blood politics
FANIKAYODE SPOKE MY INNERMOST MIND

Well lets look again into this Aburi accord.

[/font]I have said it before and I will say it again- if Nigeria is not a place that every ethnic nationality is regarded as being equal and is treated as such then let there be no more Nigeria.[font=Lucida Sans Unicode] And that is spoken like a fool my friends. King of kings, Moammar Khaddafy is no more and his country is in chaos. Do you want to see Nija burn so your own uncle, cousin, brother gets a piece of its pie? Why is it that Hausa, Benue, Ibo, Yoruba intermarry and then hate one another in the press? Dont give away your country boys and girls, do not fall sway to charismatic politicians who will promise you freedom when in the end it is their own pocket they are looking to line, not yours. So you break up. Who gets the pie? Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa their own countries? Ibo will be rich with the oil and you will hate them. Yoruba will get Lagos and frankly they can keep it for there is not much redeeming there in the traffic other than maybe Badagri beach. Hausa get the north and impose sharia for sure and can go back to their caves or whatever century they want to live in, like maybe 7th but with cell phone service. I am not mocking you. If Nigeria breaks up that would be the outcome. Is this the kind of world you want your children to see?

We should remain unite and don't let anything seperate us. Nigeria Great Nation Good People

...

This is what we expect, not the sort of one Nigeria, "our allies" fuckry that has been coming out of ACN. Thank God there is the beginning of a much needed waking up.

If its not FFK again!
Femi Fani kayode one of the biggest Yoruba nationalists and Odu'a republic advocate pre 1999 but immediately he became a minister under Obj he went pro Nigeria and mute,became very abusive of baba's opponents but I respect him for one thing,he didn't threaten secession when baba was being attacked
.
FFK seems to flow with the wind and only the uniformed would jump and dance whenever he says anything.
Your Governors,local government chairmen are a bigger problem compared to the non-existent Core north.

koruji:

This is the clown part of IBB's brilliant brain showing up. I am laughing my head off at the thought of anyone saying the below about Nigeria, talkless of IBB who did more than any previous ruler to ensure that none of it really came to be.

There are so many oxymorons in this brief statement:

1. Nigerian Unity - that is like anyone believing that the United Nations is the same as the nations of the earth being united.
2. The only Republican Constitution for Nigeria is one that is yet to be written.
3. States as federating units - Really? With every state under the stamp of the president who can deploy the army wether the state wants it or not? Where products of the state first go to the Federal government who then decides who gets what?
4. Capitalist Country - capitalism must have a different Nigerian definition perhaps the "everyone has a price" invented by IBB himself. Otherwise, this is just looney talk.
5. Settled issues - there are no settled issues except that change is certain, and perhaps that we will pay taxes and eventually die.

It is these false patriots found on almost all sides of any issue in Nigeria that will ensure this country collapses under its own weight in the no distant future.

Brilliant?
It is dumb hero worshipping jackarses that would call a leather brained, blood sucking fuckwit like IBB, "brilliant brain."
It is dumb hero worshipping jackarses that created the "maradona" aura around a kleptomaniac and serial murderer like IBB.

I feel like spitting.

Great write up! What we now need is more public figures speaking out

HMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN 1 NIGERIA WE STAND

I noticed most of the people who was once an official of the federal government always comeback to stand at the opposition to the present government in order for their voice to be heard again.

Good write-up, but who will bell the cat? We all knows what to do but whose going to initiate it?

hey soul homey, if you have nothing to contribute on topic why dont you stay out off the forum oooo, should i call you in quatar. I am in Florida usa you silly scammer. Go and post elsewhere else awe us with your political insight. Dare you  

The words of the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher are instructive here. In the September 2, 1991 edition of Newsweek she said, ”the lesson of this century is that countries put together artificially will fall apart. National identities will not be suppressed”.

Nigeria must change, she must be restructured, she must be reformed and she must make every single ”Nigerian” believe that he or she can get to the top regardless of their nationality or faith. Other than that, whether we like it or not, Nigeria will eventually break.

I'd be a millionaire if i got a penny for every time i heard these words, but some people will bury their heads and act like these words have never been once spoken. The bird in the coal mine is singing.

IBB is the original BK hero. Under his tenure, we had the first parcel bomb (Dele Giwa - anybody?).

I think it is a case of damned if we do or don't. Either way, the future is bleack

Major Gideon Orkar of blessed memory, you and the boys saw what Ojukwu of blessed memory saw but we all could not see at the time.Slowly but surely Nigeria would be divided!

abeg this 1 na ''eye service'' write up, abi na 2day he wake up. Y he no write all this when he was a minister?

The issue is not the large entity, it is simple lack of ideology and corruption to move this country forward. just ask yourself this simple question - is there any Black own country in this world as of today that you can equate to even Greece in term of infrastructures? the answer is simple NO. so even if we break with our mentality in 100 years term we will not see that development. we all hate ourselves. The amount of money ND states have received in the last 10 years is good enough to build houses and distribute for everyone free over there but the hatred that persisted in us will not allows us to that.

We keep crying we go break, who is going to break it. Yes IBB gained from the war of unity but thousands of soldiers that fought alongside never gain anything.

My father is one of those soldiers that fought but never gain anything from it, he told me, in-case of any war again in this country let them send their children to the war-front but siddon look till the last standing soldiers.