Saturday 14 September 2013

Nigeria: To break or not to break

By Femi Fani-Kayode
Today a great protest  is taking place in the Catallan region of  Spain. According to the polls, 52 per cent of the people from that region wish to break off from Spain and to establish a new European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of Scotland are having their own referendum to determine whether or not they will stay in the United Kingdom and, again, from the polls, it is very clear that the majority of Scots wish to have their own new sovereign state and that the Scottish Nationalist Party enjoys massive support. Nobody in either Spain or the United Kingdom has insulted those people or labelled them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive tribalists’’ for wanting to break off from the greater whole and establish their own country.
This is because everyone respects the right of the various ethnic groups and nationalities within their wider nation to exercise their right of self-determination which is an integral and fundamental aspect of international law. Exercising that right does not turn them into villains and does not make them any less patriotic than their compatriots who do not share their views. It just means that they have a different perspective and that they believe, as many believed before Malaysia and Singapore broke up, that the interests of their various peoples are better served when and if they go their separate ways.
They opted to be friendly neighbours rather than to be compelled to remain within the same territory against their collective will. As we in Nigeria approach the 100-year anniversary of our 1914 Lugardian amalglamation and, as the 2015 elections are fast approaching with both the northern region and the south-south zone desperate to take or to hold on to power at any cost respectively, we need to begin to ask ourselves some basic and fundamental questions about our future. For example, is our interest better served by remaining as one nation or is it time for those nationalities that wish to leave the federation in a peaceful and orderly way, as a result of a legitimate and honest referendum, be alllowed to go?
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
If the breaking up of larger countries into smaller and more viable ones is good enough for India (which broke into three), the Sudan (which broke into two), Czekhoslovakia (which broke into two), Yugoslavia (which broke into 5), the Soviet Union (which broke into 15) and numerous other countries over the years, why is it not good enough for us? Again, why should those that believe that Nigeria ought to break up be subjected to so much suspicion, ridicule, contempt and insults from those that do not share their views?
Some of the questions that need to be answered are as follows- firstly, is our union working? Secondly, is our marriage a good one and  is it a happy one as well? Are we satisfied with what has essentially become a country that has been turned into nothing more than (with apologies to Chief Bode George) ‘’Turn by Turn Nigeria?’’ where each ethnic group simply looks forward to enjoying its time to control the federation and all the nation’s resources from an all powerful centre? Are we not meant to be far more than this? Is this what the founding fathers of our nation envisaged?
More than anything else the recent igbo/yoruba debate over the issue of the status of Lagos state and the deportation of a handful of igbo destitute back to the east has proved to me that we as a people are very different from one another and that our interests may be better served if we are no longer bound together as one. I dare to voice this opinion even though many Yoruba share it but will not say so publiclly.
Is it not time for us to begin to accept the bitter truth that our marriage is uncomfortable and unhappy and that it may not have been made in heaven or ordained by God? Is it not clear that each region or each nationality ought to be able to develop at  its own pace? Is it not time for us to have a confederation of nationalities in Nigeria and to restructure the country drastically to give maximum autonomy to the various regions and nationalities or indeed is it not time to just break up and go our separate ways?
DIFFERENCES Many may disagree but one thing that I believe that we can at least agree on is that perhaps it is time for us to be courageous enough to begin to talk about these issues openly and debate them. We must not sweep our differences under the carpet and ignore them as if they do not exist but instead we must find the courage and muster the resolve to acknowledge them and understand them. As far as I am concerned, this is the challenge of our time and these are the questions that need to be answered.
Whatever happens in 2015 and whoever wins, whether it be a northerner or Goodluck Jonathan of the south-south, I see blood on the horizon and I see disaster approaching. Stark promises from notable players such as ‘’there will be bloodshed if Goodluck is not re-elected’’ do not help and are not encouraging. There are equally strident and bellicose murmurings from the other side as well and some have threatened that if there is a repeat performance of the massive rigging that the North witnessed in the presidential election of 2011 anywhere in the country in 2015, ’’Nigeria will burn’’ whilst another key player said that ‘’both the dog and the baboon shall be soaked in blood’’.
2015 AS KEG OF GUN POWDER
These words must be taken very seriously indeed and they reflect the thinking and mindset of millions of people from both sides of the political and regional divide. Worste still, whether we like to admit it or not, religion has now become a major factor in our politics with Christians being told in their churches that it is their solemn duty to support a Christian presidential candidate and Muslims being told in their mosques that it is theirs to support a Muslim. We are sitting on a keg of gunpowder and, in my view, 2015 really will be the year of make or break for Nigeria. Sadly, in my humble opinion, it is far closer to ‘’break’’ than it is to ’’make’’.
If we wish to avoid the road to Kigali, we must change our mindset and make the necessary concessions that we need to make. We must begin to think outside of the box and be far more innovative and adventurous. For example, why is it a must in the minds of some that the PDP must field a Christian as it’s presidential candidate and why are some in the APC of the view that the party must field a northern Muslim as its own?
These hard and fast fixed positions are most unhelpful and the right thing and proper thing to do is to completely discard them and attempt to find a presidential candidate that is a Nigerian before being a northerner, a southerner, a Christian or a Muslim. And thankfully there are quite a few of such people around in the new generation if only the system will be far-sighted and enlightened enough to allow them to emerge and run. Failing that we must open up the space now and consider the unpleasant assertion that the premium that a united Nigeria attracts may not be worth paying simply because we are getting nothing but failure after failure and sorrow after sorrow as our consistent return.
I do not have all the answers and neither do I claim that I do. Indeed I may well be wrong which is why I would be interested in hearing the views of others and particularly those from the younger generation who may see things very differently. Whichever way it goes and regardless of what we all think, let us not allow this debate to be driven by the uninformed or ignorance, pettiness, hate and acrimony. Let us not insult one another or act as if any tribe or nationality are a collection of angels whilst others are nothing but demons. Let us join issues and exchange ideas in a civil, restrained and decent manner without hurling insults at one another or allowing our emotions to becloud our thinking.
At the end of the day, we all want the same thing- namely, to put in place a system that is in the best interest of the Nigerian people and to empower a new leadership that will allow them to achieve their full potentials? That is the objective and that alone. Over to you.

*Fani Kayode was a Minister of Aviation


By Femi Fani-Kayode
Today a great protest  is taking place in the Catallan region of  Spain. According to the polls, 52 per cent of the people from that region wish to break off from Spain and to establish a new European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of Scotland are having their own referendum to determine whether or not they will stay in the United Kingdom and, again, from the polls, it is very clear that the majority of Scots wish to have their own new sovereign state and that the Scottish Nationalist Party enjoys massive support. Nobody in either Spain or the United Kingdom has insulted those people or labelled them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive tribalists’’ for wanting to break off from the greater whole and establish their own country.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/nigeria-to-break-or-not-to-break/#sthash.GGRRRIS9.dpuf
By Femi Fani-Kayode
Today a great protest  is taking place in the Catallan region of  Spain. According to the polls, 52 per cent of the people from that region wish to break off from Spain and to establish a new European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of Scotland are having their own referendum to determine whether or not they will stay in the United Kingdom and, again, from the polls, it is very clear that the majority of Scots wish to have their own new sovereign state and that the Scottish Nationalist Party enjoys massive support. Nobody in either Spain or the United Kingdom has insulted those people or labelled them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive tribalists’’ for wanting to break off from the greater whole and establish their own country.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/nigeria-to-break-or-not-to-break/#sthash.GGRRRIS9.dpuf

My daddy was hypertensive — Feyi Agagu

Mr Feyi Agagu, the first son of the late Dr Olusegun Agagu, a former governor of Ondo State, on Saturday said his father was hypertensive.
NAN reports that Agagu, who returned from United States on Thursday, reportedly slumped in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he was having a meeting with Ondo indigenes on Friday evening.
Late Agagu
“He just had a medical examination, which showed that he had a little cholesterol, and was hypertensive.
“There is diabetics in our family, but it’s nothing major; it was just something he had been dealing with for the past 10 to 15 years. So, there was no inkling that something was about to happen,” Agagu said.
According to him, his mum has lost her best friend and her husband. He confirmed that his father passed away in Lagos on his way to St Nicholas Hospital.He added that his father had the usual illness that comes with age, “so there was no stand out cause for his passing”.
“He lived a simple but a fulfilled and happy life. He left amazing memories and fantastic legacies behind.
“I will miss the friendship, I will miss the advice; he was pretty much anything any wife, son or daughter could ask for in a father.”He was a mentor to many, a brother, a benefactor; I’m sure a lot of people will miss him,” he said.
Agagu said the family had just returned for their annual two and a half weeks family vacation and during that time his father showed no sign of illness.
“I guess when it’s time to go, when your maker comes to get you, when he brought you, he did not ask anybody, so he can take you when he sees fit,” he said.
He said that arrangements for the burial were yet to be made. In his response to the development, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former Governor of Osun State, said he was “grieved”.
“We met in politics and he remained a very nice senior colleague and when he came back two days ago, we talked about a meeting tonight,” Oyinlola said on Saturday.
He said that he would miss everything about his late colleague, who was the perfect gentleman, who always cared for the welfare of others.
“I asked him if he would be coming to Ibadan and he answered no, he then invited me to meet on Saturday in Lagos, unfortunately that was not to be,” he said.
Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, described the late Agagu as an unassuming, brilliant and hardworking governor, who served the nation meritoriously. (NAN).

Sunday 8 September 2013

Jail those behind sealing of “new PDP” secretariat – APC

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has called for stiff punishment for those behind the shutting down of the secretariat of the “new PDP” in Abuja. The party said those responsible must be immediately identified and jailed for “crass lawlessness and palpable impunity”.
“The festering crisis in the PDP is not our business, but when the crisis leads to repression, disregard for court orders and constitutional provisions, we cannot keep quiet because those issues have grave implications for our democracy,” the party said in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.
It described the sealing up of the new PDP secretariat as a throwback to the nation’s darkest era, saying it also confirmed fears expressed by the opposition that the Jonathan administration, will become increasingly intolerant and repressive as the nation approaches of the 2015 general elections.
 
”There is no doubt that the rump of the ruling PDP which has the ears of President Jonathan is behind the sealing up of the new PDP secretariat, in a dangerous defiance of a court order that the parties must maintain the status quo. The egregious nature of this action becomes even clearer when viewed against the lies being peddled by the old PDP, that the sealing of the secretariat, which it instigated, has the imprimatur of the courts, the party said.
“For a party that has just broken up due in part to lack of internal democracy, disregard for the rule of law and the elevation of impunity to an art, this is an indication that the leaders of the ruling party have not learnt their lessons, and that they will not hesitate to bring the house down on all of us just to hold on to power. This portends danger for our democracy,” APC said.
The ruling PDP has been hit by one of the party’s most severe turmoil after a new faction emerged a week ago with a strong support base from key members. The faction, led by Abubakar Baraje, secured a court order urging relevant parties to maintain the status quo.
The APC said it was troubling whether the “grown brats” at the helms of the old PDP know that freedom of association and dissent are part of democracy, just as intolerance, repression and impunity are the very anti-thesis of the best form of government known to man.
It said only God knows what those who orchestrated the sealing of the secretariat of the new PDP will do to stifle the opposition if they could go to this shameful length to get at their dissenting members, even as “peace” talks supposedly continue between them.
“The new turn of events is worrisome, coming after the mindless impunity in Rivers State. There is a worsening climate of intolerance all over the land, no thanks to the dysfunctional nature of the PDP. The security details of the President’s supposed enemies are being withdrawn, and the institutions of state are being unleashed once again on perceived enemies of the Administration.
“This is why those who are behind the secretariat sealing in Abuja must be punished without delay, to serve as a deterrent. After all, no one is above the law,” APC said.
Source: Premium Times.
Former Kwara state governor and one of the leaders of the breakaway “New PDP”,Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki representing Kwara central in current Senate chamber insisted Sunday that the group would not compromise on  the principle of ‘fairness and equity’ in the affairs of the party in the  bid to settle the ongoing logjam in the ruling party.
Saraki who  made this position known while fielding questions from newsmen in Ilorin also expressed deep concern over withdrawal of his security aides by the Inspector General of Police saying that it would endanger his life and that Federal Government should be held responsible in the event that anything happened to him, even as he expressed his resolve to seek redress in the law court.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/new-pdp-will-not-compromise-on-principles-of-equity-fairnes-bukola/#sthash.oNH2emCw.dpuf