Who will save our union?

Lack of unison on a number of fundamental issues surrounding Nigeria’s unity is no doubt a causal factor for the political turmoil plaguing the country, hence the need for a candid and constitutional on the terms of the union, but who will champion it?
Ladi Thompson, a security expert and political commentator said, “As a nation, Nigeria is a product of failure engineering. The Nigerian program produces a people that cannot work together, a divisive people.”
The 2015 presidential election is to many a testament to how deeply divided, across ethnic and religious lines Nigeria is. Election results show the candidate of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian and Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim and candidate of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) winning by very high margins in their respective regions of origin.

Yinka Odumakin, The secretary-general of Afenifere, said, “What we really need is a national conference with full constituent powers, whose decision will not be tampered with by any authority.”
“The political arrangement pre-independence carried us well in the first few years of our independence, when we had the three federating states, when each region had relative autonomy. What we saw was competitive development across the various regions.
“Until we go back to those fundamental arrangements reached by our founding fathers, which were based on a federal and state constitution, we are not going anywhere,” Odumakin concluded.
Looking back in history, one of the earliest attempts to discuss issues bordering on the Nigerian state was the Ibadan 1950 conference. The new constitution Sir Macpherson was drafting (Macpherson constitution of 1951) brought about the conference which had in attendance political leaders of the three regions (northern, eastern and western).
Discussions at the meeting centered majorly on the political administration of Nigeria, the system of government to be adopted and the revenue allocation formula.
The Aburi Accord of 1967 was another attempt at discussing the state of the nation when the corporate existence of Nigerian came under immense threat and was on the brink of collapsing, following the coup that toppled the first republic.
However, carpeting agreements reached at the meeting among other things, eventually led to the devastating civil war (between 1967 and 1970) and prolonged military rule, during which all the key structures of Nigeria’s federal arrangement were dismantled and things essentially fell apart for.
The most recent attempt at discussing the state of the nation was the national conference of 2014. The conference was the most audacious attempt at evaluating the fundamental structure and system upon which the country is run.
President Jonathan, at the inauguration of the organising committee of the conference said, “I will, like to allay the fears of those who think the Conference will call the integrity of Nigeria into question. This National Discourse will strengthen our union and address issues that are often on the front burner, and are too frequently ignored.”
According to Femi Okurounmu, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the National Conference, Femi Okurounmu, part of the brief the President gave him, was that the conference is not about how to dismantle or break up Nigeria. “Discussions on the breakup of Nigeria were clearly defined as a “no-go” area” he said.
Recommendations of the conference which had in attendance, 492 delegates and cost Nigeria about N9 billion were described by many as the solution to Nigeria’s age long political and economic instability.
President Buhari in an anniversary to mark his first year in office, however described the confab report as one for the archives.
“I advised against the issue of National Conference. You would recall that ASUU was on strike then for almost nine months. The teachers in the tertiary institutions were on strike for more than a year, yet that government had about N9billion to organise that meeting (National Conference) and some (members) were complaining that they hadn’t even been paid.
“I never liked the priority of that government on that particular issue, because it meant that what the National Assembly could have handled was handed to the Conference, while the more important job of keeping our children in schools was abandoned.
“That is why I haven’t even bothered to read it or ask for a briefing on it, and I want it to go into the so-called archives.”
Bala Tanko, a public affairs analyst said, “As the race to the 2019 presidential elections gathers momentum, this is a call on whoever is returned elected as president to consider bringing all components of the Nigeria state under one roof to discuss issues bordering on the continuous peaceful coexistence of Nigeria, as we have more to gain staying together in peace and harmony.”

 
OLALEKAN IPELE