A former Minister of Education and member of the Northern Elders
Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has said if Nigerians has found it
difficult to live together in peace, the component units should
find it convenient to go their separate ways.
Accusing the elite of being the cause of the nation’s
multifaceted challenges, Abdullahi believed that if the
amalgamation of the country in1914 by Lord Lugard was a mistake,
“each region should go separately.”
Abdullahi stated these on Tuesday in Abuja during the public
presentation of two books: Boko Haram: The Charade vs
Reality and The Life and Times of Umaru Turakin Bauchi,
written by a former Diplomatic Editor of the Voice of
America and now visiting Professor in ABU, Zaria, Hadiza
Wada.
The former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu bello University,
Zaria, and former Adviser on Food Security to ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo, also called on the Federal Government to fight the Niger
Delta Avengers before fighting members of the Boko Haram sect.
He said, “The Batures (whites) have brought us together. They
tried what they could before they left in 1960 to see whether this
country could become a political unity that is stable because
without political stability, it is impossible to stabilise any
aspect of our socio-economic development. They succeeded up to a
point but they were very lucky, they found our forefathers and
founding fathers, who were honest.
“Take for example, India that became independent in 1948, before
one or two years, Pakistan was born and in another one or two
years, Bangladesh was born out of Pakistan because there had not
been sufficient basis on which India would stay together in the
first place and later Pakistan would stand together as Pakistan,
even though they have so much in common. Bangladesh and Pakistan
are Muslim countries and so on. There are so many areas of
disagreement.”
The ex-minister added, “So, this is what we have with our
independence and our forefathers did so much. But our greatest
challenge today is political instability, created, unfortunately,
by politicians and the Nigerian elite. We are responsible for the
conditions we are experiencing today and that we have experienced
over the years.
“This is the basis on which we have made slow or no progress in
our development.”
Abdullahi argued that the elite were in the vanguard of calling
for the restructuring of the country.
He stated, “We are hearing about the restructuring of Nigeria.
We’re hearing about secession; we are hearing all sorts of
things(sic) and who are the promoters of this rhetoric?
“These are from elite of the country. They’re right to say their
minds, but they should also leave me to say my mind when the time
is right.
“If Lord Lugard made a mistake in 1914, let’s correct it now.
Why not? If Nigerians cannot live together and allow peace and
development to take place, then let’s go our different ways and to
our different places, so we can concentrate and develop our
children and grandchildren in peace.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. So many countries have gone
through that before. So, I don’t believe in all this emotion
and sentiment that Nigeria is indissoluble. There’s nothing like
indissolubility in any country.
“Take Britain, they’ve been a model for 1,000 years of
democracy; and then, a year or two ago, Scotland, that had been in
the United Kingdom for about 350 years, opted to go for a
referendum to get out; same problem with Ireland. Soviet Union was
only a superpower many years ago; today, 12 or 13 countries are
there.
“So what is so special about Nigeria? If we find truly
that we cannot develop and guarantee the welfare of our people as a
nation and the solution is to go our separate ways, why not? So you
see, this is the thing we have to always discuss at all times
honestly.”
Speaking on Boko Haram, he said, “You ask the question: where
did Boko Haram get their sophistication and articulation
from? No doubt from external connections, but external
connections can only thrive if they have internal connections in
the country itself.
“But the real offence: people who ‘knew’ and should have spoken
out did not do such.
“Some of us, including my teacher and I, went to see (former
President Goodluck) Jonathan to discuss it. Some days later, we
heard there was going to be dialogue but then two weeks later, a
state of emergency was declared and Boko Haram was banned. So, the
question is: who are you talking with if you have banned Boko
Haram?
Abdullahi believed that the Niger Delta Avengers and Boko Haram
belonged to the same camp of terrorists.”
He stated, “Yes we accepted Boko Haram for those who described
them as ‘Islamist terrorists’, fair enough; but what about
economic terrorists?
“In the Niger Delta, for example, people who came out openly and
said they’re avenging something and that they’re fighting to avenge
something, they’re worse than what’s happening in this country;
they’re worse than Boko Haram.
‘‘If you’re not going to fight Avengers, then stop fighting Boko
Haram.”
Also, an elder statesman, Alhaji Maitama Sule, commended the
author of the book, Wada, on her painstaking research on the Boko
Haram insurgency.
Wada said government needed to do more in the area of further
research on Boko Haram.
Copyright PUNCH.
The post Nigeria’s unity negotiable, says Prof. Ango
Abdullahi appeared first from online sources and was reposted by the community on Welcome to 9jalegal –
Nigeria’s Leading Legal Information and Services Portal.
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A former Minister of Education and member of the Northern Elders
Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has said if Nigerians has found it
difficult to live together in peace, the component units should
find it convenient to go their separate ways.
Accusing the elite of being the cause of the nation’s
multifaceted challenges, Abdullahi believed that if the
amalgamation of the country in1914 by Lord Lugard was a mistake,
“each region should go separately.”
Abdullahi stated these on Tuesday in Abuja during the public
presentation of two books: Boko Haram: The Charade vs
Reality and The Life and Times of Umaru Turakin Bauchi,
written by a former Diplomatic Editor of the Voice of
America and now visiting Professor in ABU, Zaria, Hadiza
Wada.
The former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu bello University,
Zaria, and former Adviser on Food Security to ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo, also called on the Federal Government to fight the Niger
Delta Avengers before fighting members of the Boko Haram sect.
He said, “The Batures (whites) have brought us together. They
tried what they could before they left in 1960 to see whether this
country could become a political unity that is stable because
without political stability, it is impossible to stabilise any
aspect of our socio-economic development. They succeeded up to a
point but they were very lucky, they found our forefathers and
founding fathers, who were honest.
“Take for example, India that became independent in 1948, before
one or two years, Pakistan was born and in another one or two
years, Bangladesh was born out of Pakistan because there had not
been sufficient basis on which India would stay together in the
first place and later Pakistan would stand together as Pakistan,
even though they have so much in common. Bangladesh and Pakistan
are Muslim countries and so on. There are so many areas of
disagreement.”
The ex-minister added, “So, this is what we have with our
independence and our forefathers did so much. But our greatest
challenge today is political instability, created, unfortunately,
by politicians and the Nigerian elite. We are responsible for the
conditions we are experiencing today and that we have experienced
over the years.
“This is the basis on which we have made slow or no progress in
our development.”
Abdullahi argued that the elite were in the vanguard of calling
for the restructuring of the country.
He stated, “We are hearing about the restructuring of Nigeria.
We’re hearing about secession; we are hearing all sorts of
things(sic) and who are the promoters of this rhetoric?
“These are from elite of the country. They’re right to say their
minds, but they should also leave me to say my mind when the time
is right.
“If Lord Lugard made a mistake in 1914, let’s correct it now.
Why not? If Nigerians cannot live together and allow peace and
development to take place, then let’s go our different ways and to
our different places, so we can concentrate and develop our
children and grandchildren in peace.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. So many countries have gone
through that before. So, I don’t believe in all this emotion
and sentiment that Nigeria is indissoluble. There’s nothing like
indissolubility in any country.
“Take Britain, they’ve been a model for 1,000 years of
democracy; and then, a year or two ago, Scotland, that had been in
the United Kingdom for about 350 years, opted to go for a
referendum to get out; same problem with Ireland. Soviet Union was
only a superpower many years ago; today, 12 or 13 countries are
there.
“So what is so special about Nigeria? If we find truly
that we cannot develop and guarantee the welfare of our people as a
nation and the solution is to go our separate ways, why not? So you
see, this is the thing we have to always discuss at all times
honestly.”
Speaking on Boko Haram, he said, “You ask the question: where
did Boko Haram get their sophistication and articulation
from? No doubt from external connections, but external
connections can only thrive if they have internal connections in
the country itself.
“But the real offence: people who ‘knew’ and should have spoken
out did not do such.
“Some of us, including my teacher and I, went to see (former
President Goodluck) Jonathan to discuss it. Some days later, we
heard there was going to be dialogue but then two weeks later, a
state of emergency was declared and Boko Haram was banned. So, the
question is: who are you talking with if you have banned Boko
Haram?
Abdullahi believed that the Niger Delta Avengers and Boko Haram
belonged to the same camp of terrorists.”
He stated, “Yes we accepted Boko Haram for those who described
them as ‘Islamist terrorists’, fair enough; but what about
economic terrorists?
“In the Niger Delta, for example, people who came out openly and
said they’re avenging something and that they’re fighting to avenge
something, they’re worse than what’s happening in this country;
they’re worse than Boko Haram.
‘‘If you’re not going to fight Avengers, then stop fighting Boko
Haram.”
Also, an elder statesman, Alhaji Maitama Sule, commended the
author of the book, Wada, on her painstaking research on the Boko
Haram insurgency.
Wada said government needed to do more in the area of further
research on Boko Haram.
Copyright PUNCH.
The post Nigeria’s unity negotiable, says Prof. Ango
Abdullahi appeared first from online sources and was reposted by the community on Welcome to 9jalegal –
Nigeria’s Leading Legal Information and Services Portal.
No related posts.
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