| Friday, June 23, 2017 | 12:45 AM CET
Nigerian Governors' Unity Mantra And Their Roles In Fuelling Separatism
Before President Muhamadu Buhari left the shores of Nigeria to treat himself in London of some undisclosed health complications, he charged his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, with the task of coordinating anything that crops up in the country.
There are so many things Nigeria is facing as a country. Boko Haram is still there. Fulani Herdsmen are still rampaging. Recession still appears unending. Freedom fighters tagged militants appear not to be either appeased or doused.
The one that hits hard on the continued existence of the country is Biafra. It has thrown the country into the trajectory predicted by the United States that Nigeria as a country would not exceed 2014.
To bring the country's disintegration closer, Nigeria's Northern youths have given Igbos a 3-month ultimatum to leave their region. To show that they were not alone, their elders have supported them in asking the Igbos to vacate the region.
To buttress their seriousness, they have written letter to Acting President Prof Yemi Osinbajo asking him to "allow the Igbos to have their Biafra".
They cited the United Nations' resolution on the rights to self-determination and why referendum is the only solution to the troubled polity as Biafrans seem not disposed to any other negotiation than how to exit the country.
Many people believe that the position the Northern Youths and Elders seem to have assumed lately after Buhari appears incapacitated to preside over the affairs of the country is a politically orchestrated ploy to replace Osinbajo with a northerner, possibly with the Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Some people have argued that Osinbajo is just a coordinator, therefore, does not have the power to do certain things, including signing the year's budget; although he eventually did.
People also argue that the northern youths and elders would not have assumed their lately position if President Buhari were alive and kicking. They posit that If there was no need to replace Buhari, and if Buhari was on seat, the youths and elders of the north wouldn't have written such letter to Buhari.
But be that as it may, Osinbajo has followed what his instinct has provided him with. He has started consultations with some stakeholders in the country. And all these consultations are frantic efforts to procure a lasting solution to the troubled polity: the pending eviction of Igbo Biafrans from the Northern part of Nigeria as threatened by Northern Youth Coalition and backed by Northern Elders Forum; and an obliteration or suppression of the Biafra ideology.
Hence, yesterday, the Acting President, in following up with his consultations, moved to meet with Nigerian Governors.
And speaking to newsmen after meeting with the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, spoke on behalf of his colleagues and said that the unity of Nigeria was not negotiable.
“It has been unanimously agreed that the unity of this country is sacrosanct, it is non-negotiable and we have all agreed to work together to educate people,” he said.
He continued, “The message is for Nigerians to work more together and collaborate. We have more to gain when we are united. We cannot afford to break, and anybody thinking of that is wasting his time and we will not allow it, not in this country. All of us are unanimous about that".
I was wondering how agreement of coexistence is reached in a democracy: whether it is reached by insensitive embezzlers of public funds, who care less of the hardship the masses are subjected to; or it is reached by the masses in a referendum where they decide their fate. But since Nigeria is in democracy, should the governors be the ones to decide for the people or the people allowed to decide for themselves? That is a question begging for answer.
And I have to posit this: That they(Nigerian governors) met and reached a consensus concerning the coexistence of Nigerians does not make it the wishes of the masses even though the masses voted them in because the governors do not address the challenges of the masses, which are the things they were voted to address instead they subject the masses to endless hardships which have led some of the masses into committing suicide, jumping into lagoon, leaving the country to survive elsewhere, or joining kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism and the likes.
Ajimibo continued, this time with a fallacious statement about Nigerians and their cohabitative nature.
He said, “Nigerians are by nature a united people; nobody cares whether you are from the north, south or the east".
“Their unity must be there and we cannot play with the unity of this country. The consensus has been that there must be unity".
I was wondering what kind of dumb statement that was. I was forced to ask whether the governor does not know the events that had taken place and are still taking place in the country that distinctly show that people in Nigeria are badly divided along ethnic lines: how strategic positions in the country are ascended or given to Hausa-Fulani and their Yoruba collaborators leaving the Igbos as third-class citizens; and how people's tribal origins and affiliations are strictly considered before jobs, appointments, etc are given them, especially when it comes to Igbos.
Maybe he should try and find out why the first coup of 1966 came into being. How Nigeria was badly divided along tribal lines at the time.
Ajimobi also spoke on hardship, poverty and joblessness.
He said, "Any time you have agitation, usually there will be poverty, there will be unemployment, there will be a hardship. So, we should address fundamentally these areas of poverty, unemployment, and hardship."
And I venture to ask: Who are the ones causing the hardships and poverty the citizens of Nigeria are languishing in? The hardships and poverty, are they not the consequences of bad governance? Are the governors not the ones embezzling and diverting public funds meant for the establishment of the people and the development of the states?
Are they not the ones abandoning previous administration's projects and starting their own without completing them, in order to divert the funds and use them for campaign purposes?
Are they not the ones living in mansions and the poor masses squatting in thatched and mud houses?
Are they not the ones making promises during campaigns and fulfilling none?
Are they not the ones that bribe and rig themselves into offices? They bribe the people with peanuts and rig themselves into offices thereby subverting the wishes of the masses and subsequently acquire properties abroad with investment to cater for their unborn generation while keeping the masses in perpetual poverty.
Are they not the ones underpaying civil servants, slashing their salaries and forcing them to sign that they received full salaries?
The truth remains that the Nigerian Governors have impoverished the masses and their bad governance has fuelled the agitation for separation because if they had been developing their individual States without betraying the trust people bestowed on them, the agitation for Biafra Republic, Oduduwa Republic or Arewa nation would not have been intensified at this time
Written by O. E Williams
Edited by Mazi Collins
Published for IPOB writers
Twitter: @ipob_writers
Nigerian Governors' Unity Mantra And Their Roles In Fuelling Separatism
 |
| Southeast Governors |
Before President Muhamadu Buhari left the shores of Nigeria to treat himself in London of some undisclosed health complications, he charged his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, with the task of coordinating anything that crops up in the country.
There are so many things Nigeria is facing as a country. Boko Haram is still there. Fulani Herdsmen are still rampaging. Recession still appears unending. Freedom fighters tagged militants appear not to be either appeased or doused.
The one that hits hard on the continued existence of the country is Biafra. It has thrown the country into the trajectory predicted by the United States that Nigeria as a country would not exceed 2014.
To bring the country's disintegration closer, Nigeria's Northern youths have given Igbos a 3-month ultimatum to leave their region. To show that they were not alone, their elders have supported them in asking the Igbos to vacate the region.
To buttress their seriousness, they have written letter to Acting President Prof Yemi Osinbajo asking him to "allow the Igbos to have their Biafra".
They cited the United Nations' resolution on the rights to self-determination and why referendum is the only solution to the troubled polity as Biafrans seem not disposed to any other negotiation than how to exit the country.
Many people believe that the position the Northern Youths and Elders seem to have assumed lately after Buhari appears incapacitated to preside over the affairs of the country is a politically orchestrated ploy to replace Osinbajo with a northerner, possibly with the Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Some people have argued that Osinbajo is just a coordinator, therefore, does not have the power to do certain things, including signing the year's budget; although he eventually did.
People also argue that the northern youths and elders would not have assumed their lately position if President Buhari were alive and kicking. They posit that If there was no need to replace Buhari, and if Buhari was on seat, the youths and elders of the north wouldn't have written such letter to Buhari.
But be that as it may, Osinbajo has followed what his instinct has provided him with. He has started consultations with some stakeholders in the country. And all these consultations are frantic efforts to procure a lasting solution to the troubled polity: the pending eviction of Igbo Biafrans from the Northern part of Nigeria as threatened by Northern Youth Coalition and backed by Northern Elders Forum; and an obliteration or suppression of the Biafra ideology.
Hence, yesterday, the Acting President, in following up with his consultations, moved to meet with Nigerian Governors.
And speaking to newsmen after meeting with the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, spoke on behalf of his colleagues and said that the unity of Nigeria was not negotiable.
“It has been unanimously agreed that the unity of this country is sacrosanct, it is non-negotiable and we have all agreed to work together to educate people,” he said.
He continued, “The message is for Nigerians to work more together and collaborate. We have more to gain when we are united. We cannot afford to break, and anybody thinking of that is wasting his time and we will not allow it, not in this country. All of us are unanimous about that".
I was wondering how agreement of coexistence is reached in a democracy: whether it is reached by insensitive embezzlers of public funds, who care less of the hardship the masses are subjected to; or it is reached by the masses in a referendum where they decide their fate. But since Nigeria is in democracy, should the governors be the ones to decide for the people or the people allowed to decide for themselves? That is a question begging for answer.
And I have to posit this: That they(Nigerian governors) met and reached a consensus concerning the coexistence of Nigerians does not make it the wishes of the masses even though the masses voted them in because the governors do not address the challenges of the masses, which are the things they were voted to address instead they subject the masses to endless hardships which have led some of the masses into committing suicide, jumping into lagoon, leaving the country to survive elsewhere, or joining kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism and the likes.
Ajimibo continued, this time with a fallacious statement about Nigerians and their cohabitative nature.
He said, “Nigerians are by nature a united people; nobody cares whether you are from the north, south or the east".
“Their unity must be there and we cannot play with the unity of this country. The consensus has been that there must be unity".
I was wondering what kind of dumb statement that was. I was forced to ask whether the governor does not know the events that had taken place and are still taking place in the country that distinctly show that people in Nigeria are badly divided along ethnic lines: how strategic positions in the country are ascended or given to Hausa-Fulani and their Yoruba collaborators leaving the Igbos as third-class citizens; and how people's tribal origins and affiliations are strictly considered before jobs, appointments, etc are given them, especially when it comes to Igbos.
Maybe he should try and find out why the first coup of 1966 came into being. How Nigeria was badly divided along tribal lines at the time.
Ajimobi also spoke on hardship, poverty and joblessness.
He said, "Any time you have agitation, usually there will be poverty, there will be unemployment, there will be a hardship. So, we should address fundamentally these areas of poverty, unemployment, and hardship."
And I venture to ask: Who are the ones causing the hardships and poverty the citizens of Nigeria are languishing in? The hardships and poverty, are they not the consequences of bad governance? Are the governors not the ones embezzling and diverting public funds meant for the establishment of the people and the development of the states?
Are they not the ones abandoning previous administration's projects and starting their own without completing them, in order to divert the funds and use them for campaign purposes?
Are they not the ones living in mansions and the poor masses squatting in thatched and mud houses?
Are they not the ones making promises during campaigns and fulfilling none?
Are they not the ones that bribe and rig themselves into offices? They bribe the people with peanuts and rig themselves into offices thereby subverting the wishes of the masses and subsequently acquire properties abroad with investment to cater for their unborn generation while keeping the masses in perpetual poverty.
Are they not the ones underpaying civil servants, slashing their salaries and forcing them to sign that they received full salaries?
The truth remains that the Nigerian Governors have impoverished the masses and their bad governance has fuelled the agitation for separation because if they had been developing their individual States without betraying the trust people bestowed on them, the agitation for Biafra Republic, Oduduwa Republic or Arewa nation would not have been intensified at this time
Written by O. E Williams
Edited by Mazi Collins
Published for IPOB writers
Twitter: @ipob_writers
Just look at the faces of shameless criminals that have sold their birth rights to Hausa-Fulani. These hoodlum governors are the biggest corrupt crooks that runs to Abuja to make foolishness of themselves and betray Biafra. Ugly bastards!!!
ReplyDelete