Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation Afenifere, has stated that the North cannot dictate who becomes president to the rest of the country.Information Guide Nigeria
Adebanjo spoke on Monday during a public lecture at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs on Victoria Island, Lagos, titled “Nationalism and nation-building in Nigerian history.”
He said, “It was said that the South-East must come to negotiate with the North because politics is a game of numbers. My case is – and I told people yesterday – the case for the East is not to beg for a favour; it is their right. Yet, each time I hear that they should go around because the North has the population, what fraudulent population? You can’t sell that to me.JAMB portal
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“They tell us to work together but unfortunately because they now have produced a president at the helm of affairs, they say ‘no one can become president except you come to the North and unfortunately, some southerners have been brainwashed that they can’t do anything except they bow to the North. I don’t believe it.
He said, “Recently, some Nigerian political leaders have said that Nigerian unity is non-negotiable. This is an irony because these leaders seem to have forgotten Nigerian history or have failed to learn the lessons of history in general.NYSC portal
“Nigerian unity is definitely negotiable and must be re-negotiated for it to stand or survive the test of time. The reality over the years remains that in spite of the best efforts of all our leaders past or present, Nigerian unity is not guaranteed.
“It is simply, at best, an aspiration and not yet an achievement. Consequently, the statement that Nigerian unity is ‘non-negotiable’ is simply a historical fallacy.”
On his part, the National Director of Publicity of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr Hakeem Ahmed, said, “Some Nigerian political leaders have said Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable. I don’t know who these people are, but I can tell you they are not of the North and they are not related to the NEF.
“Nigeria’s unity is negotiable. You either negotiate it because nations are very fragile and very delicate and you have to nurture them and pay attention to their need or they break and we are at that breaking point.”
The guest professor, Professor Jide Osuntokun, bemoaned that since 1966, Nigeria has failed to find a way to combine the regional demand for autonomy within a national structure.JAMB Result
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