BEVERLY HILLS, December 13, (THEWILL) – Protracted agitations by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) for the actualisation of Republic of Biafra has again brought to the fore the challenges of inequality in governance which led to the Nigerian civil war from 1967-1970.
Unfortunately, 45 years after, the circumstances that led the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to take up arms against the Nigerian state are still fresh in the polity.
While THEWILL does not support divisive tendencies, it is noteworthy that when sections of the country feel marginalised, the natural right to protests becomes inevitable.
Interestingly, this is not an unfamiliar tune, given that the same marginalisation monster has been responsible for similar agitations in Niger Delta and in the West, especially after the annulment of the 1993 presidential election, presumed to have been won by the late M.K.O. Abiola.
Over the years, those who feel marginalised argue that the North has dominated the political sphere since independence. The trend has reduced other federating units to second class citizens, forcing the people to pitch themselves along ethnic and tribal lines rather than as Nigerians.
Recently, Yoruba leaders held a meeting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, where they called for Constitutional reforms as a way of ending these separatist agitations, and giving a sense of belonging to the federating units in the country.
They blamed the lingering agitations on the inability of successive governments to address the Constitutional lapses making marginalisation to thrive.
THEWILL therefore urge the Federal Government to urgently commence the process of reviewing the Constitution so that these divisive tendencies would be eliminated. The fastest way to go about this could be revisiting the recommendations of the last National Assembly Constitution Amendment Committee and the National Conference.
With a review of the Constitution, conflicts arising from devolution of power, revenue allocation and other structural imbalances would be taken care of. Since lopsided leadership has often been part of the problems, government should consider the review to include finding solutions to these challenges. The Confab had proposed that office of the President should rotate between the North and South and among the geo-political zones. The recommendations also prescribed same for the states and local government areas.
Besides, the imbalance in the number of states between the North and South, as well as sharing formula of the nation’s wealth should be tackled in the needed reform. It has been argued that the present political architecture, which has 19 Northern states and 17 Southern states, is unfair to the collective interest of a united Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari restated recently that the unity of Nigeria would not be compromised, neither would it be a subject of debate. This is a good position, but we urge him to take immediate steps to address the fundamental causes of separatist agitations, because threats alone can only reduce the heat but will not eliminate it.
THEWILL believes that the only machinery that can defeat these growing concerns is transparency, fairness, equity and true federalism, which only a review of the Constitution can address.
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