Elder statesman, Chike Obidigbo, has described as very remarkable, the story that the north is now ready for Nigeria’s division into its constituent parts.
Recall that a highly respected and distinguished northern
leader, Prof Ango Abdullahi, had recently said that Nigeria’s amalgamation
instrument has expired and that the country should consider going their
separate ways.
Obidigbo said this statement showed that history beckons for
a separate homeland for Igbo in the light of renewed antagonism against them by
powerful elements in both the North and Southwest.
He further pointed out that the recent nationwide protest
organised by youths of this country brought back the same old worries that have
always bedevilled Nigeria, thereby exposing the nation’s pretentious
patriotism.
According to him, those in authority can only be pretending
that what he described as Nigeria’s forced union is not a time bomb that
threatens to blow up at the slightest provocation if we fail to act in a
civilized manner to settle this undying rift amicably
“So, I was tickled few days ago by the opinions shared by
the acknowledged and vocal northern elder and former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi,” he said in a statement he
personally signed and made available to the media on Monday.
He said for this to come barely a few days after a Yoruba
group announced the decision to start a protest to chase Igbo away from Lagos
State and Southwest with neither strong cautions nor arrest made, shows that
Nigeria is due for retirement.
“Permit me to say that Prof. Abdullahi merely repeated what
many have been saying for a long time,” he added.
“I totally agree with the erudite Prof, but I will still
plead to be allowed to hold onto my personal belief that Nigeria is far too big
for one black person to rule profitably and successfully.
“My argument has been that we black Africans lack the
detailed exposure, mental capacity, integrity and objective mind to preside
over the affairs of such huge geographical contraption made up of people with
diverse socio-political and cultural backgrounds.
“The hardship protest has therefore exposed the fault lines
such that even the two-nation-in-one delineation could no longer survive,
despite the recent attempts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his supporters
to belatedly interpret his Emi lokan mandate as the turn of the South.
“As the hardship protest showed that the marriage between
Tinubu’s Southwest foot soldiers and the North has broken down, efforts to
unite the South began as a safeguard to the Northern political insurrection.
“But sadly, the support of Southeast, which was denied
consideration in 2023 after the North and Southwest’s repeated access to the
Presidency, is now being courted or vilified for not taking active part in the
hardship protest.
“Now that Prof. Ango Abdullahi says the north is ready for a
split of Nigeria, I wish to thank him for waking up to the reality of the
times, barely 14 months after the north left the Presidency.
“The spokesman for the northern think tank, has suddenly
realised that the veritable index that Nigeria is ripe for Balkanisation is
that other Nigerians may have realised the futility of continued bandwagon.
“Based on this new thinking in the north, I wish to support
the challenge posed by the internationally-acclaimed Prof. Ango Abdullahi that
Nigerians should come together to discuss how to share what remains as assets
and liabilities of the expired amalgam, Nigeria.
“We, as Igbo have been experiencing marginalisation until it
matured into total exclusion and demonization of everything Igbo. It is
therefore interesting that the north is complaining merely fourteen months
after being out of power.”
He said the conspiracy and selfish exclusion of the Igbo
have come back to hurt what it describes as the British contraption called
Nigeria so much so that the Fulanis, who are holding the country in trust for
Britain, have started clamouring for the right thing to be done for sake of
administrative efficiency and good governance.
“It is obvious that the north is pained that Tinubu may have
tricked them into supporting his ambition to be President, even when they knew
that it was actually the turn of either South East or South South to become
President in 2023.
“It is possible that some of the northern leaders were
blinded by either greed or hatred for Igbo, to support Southwest to become
President again after the zone had enjoyed 16 cumulative years as President and
Vice President, leaving Igbo totally out of the political equation.
“Some Northwest governors that supported Southwest to
produce President Tinubu, may have felt disappointed when Senator Kashim
Shettima was nominated as Presidential running mate and Vice President, which
in my opinion, helped to balance political opportunity between Northwest and
Northeast.
“It is therefore unfortunate that till date, those leaders
have not seen the political wisdom or patriotic need for Southeast to pair with
Northeast after the Northwest and Southwest had just served out eight years.”
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