Enough is Enough, Osinbajo Tells Separatist Agitators
•Southern leaders unveil five-point agenda for restructuring
•Buhari’s trip to US is fake news, says Mohammed
By ODINAKA BENEDICT writing for ODOGWU MEDIA.
Vice-President
Yemi Osinbajo yesterday challenged Nigerians to abate the growing
separatist agitations and debates about the unity of Nigeria, tasking them to rather channel their energies and resources towards building a great nation.
Osinbajo
made this remark while representing President Muhammadu Buhari at a
feast in commemoration of the Eid-El Kabir celebration in the
Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He
said it was time citizens stopped promoting talks on the division of
Nigeria but should rather concentrate on how Nigeria will attain the
level God has designed it to be.
“Our
energies and resources shouldn’t be spent again on the debate about
division. Our manifest destiny is to be a great nation, not to be a
nation where we are talking about division. We must focus our time, our
energies and our resources on being that great nation that God has
called us to be,” he said.
He
further described Nigeria as a great nation, blessed with human and
natural resources which he said some other nations of the world had to
embark on a long journey to see.
According
to him, the country is so blessed to the extent that people hold the
opinion that one of every four or five black persons in the world must
be a Nigerian, as he went spiritual, pointing out that God conceived
Nigeria as a nation blessed with the diversity of resources and ideas.
He
insisted that it was time to put paid to protracted controversies which
characterise Nigeria’s experience, insisting that Nigeria is a country
ordained by God to remain eternally united.
He
emphasised that Nigeria was so rich both in human and natural resources
to the extent that God conceived it to be a honey pot to other African
nations which he said would have to depend on it to survive.
Arguing
that he was confident that Nigeria would never disintegrate, Osinbajo
said God designed the country to be a pre-eminent black nation that is
rich in culture, commerce and technology.
“I
am one of those who are extremely confident that our nation will remain
united because I am convinced that God’s plans and purpose for Nigeria
are that we would be the preeminent black nation in the world.
“This
is a nation that will show forth in culture, in technology and in
commerce, God’s investment in the black race. This is why today, some
people say out of four blacks, some say five, one must be a Nigerian.
That is not a mean attainment at all.
“That
nation that God has in mind is a diverse nation, diverse in resources,
in ideas, in opinions – kind of nation that we have, where there is an
argument about something everywhere. Before you get tired of that lone
argument, another one arises and before you finish with that one, there
is yet another one.
“This
is the type of country that God has ordained where we have a diversity
of opinions, diversity of ideas. People are saying their own things here
and there. But, He has also planned that this country will remain
together and that we’ll be a nation that is gifted just as we have the
oil, the gas, and the most arable land space than most continents.
“This
is a country that has all of what other countries will travel and spend
money looking for the sort of resources that we have.
“All of the tourism resources that we have, people will travel everywhere looking for it.
It
is a nation of men and women so creative and prosperous, that we will
feed the entire continent and create opportunities for the world,” he
stated.
The
vice-president disclosed that the president was unavoidably absent at
the event because he had to celebrate this year’s Eid-El Kabir in his
Daura country home which he said he had not visited in the last one
year.
Reflecting
on the essence of Sallah and its application to Nigeria today, Osinbajo
challenged Nigerians to cultivate the spirit of the sacrifice made by
Abraham when he willingly prepared to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.
Explaining
that Abraham expressed his willingness to make that sacrifice because
he considered it a necessity to fulfil his own destiny, the
vice-president said, even so, all Nigerians, irrespective of their
religious and ethnic leanings, must realise the necessity to make
sacrifices that will help the country attain its own destiny.
“Mr.
President is unable to attend because he is celebrating Sallah at home
in Daura. He has not been in Daura for over a year now. So, this is an
important home going for him. The
significance of this celebration was the willingness of Abraham to make
the great sacrifice of possibly the dearest thing to him, his son
Isaac.
“Obviously…it
was a willingness to make a great sacrifice and Abraham was able to
make that sacrifice. And he made it in order to be able to fulfil his
own destiny and the destiny of his people.
“The
message today is that our nation’s elite, Muslims, Christians and all
ethnicities must recognise that we also must make sacrifices, the
sacrifices that are necessary to attain the destiny that God has brought
unto our people. All the different ethnic groups are important in that
arrangement. On every ethnicity, incredible minds, brilliant and
creative people doing all manner of things,” he stated.
He
submitted that Nigeria’s current travail is an indication that like a
woman in labour, the time of its breakthrough is at hand.
Southern Leaders Unveil five-Point Agenda for Restructuring.
Meanwhile,
the Southern Leaders of Thought (SLT) has unveiled a five-point agenda
for restructuring Nigeria in line with the principles and tenets of what
it calls true federalism, which it argues, is key to ensuring the
country’s survival against the forces of division and conflict inherent
in its heterogeneous nature.
The
SLT, a forum of eminent Nigerians, also rejected the 1999 Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and demanded a new
constitution that would derive its authority, legitimacy and validity
from the people rather than a decree of the military.
These
were contained in a 22-page document obtained by ODOGWU MEDIA from the SLT
Secretariat in Lagos at the weekend, in which it accused the National
Assembly of making itself part of the problems standing in the way of
the restructuring of the country by seeking to amend the 1999
Constitution.
The
document signed by Prof. Benjamin Nwabueze, on behalf of other members
of the group, specifically outlines a five-point agenda that seeks
restoration of true federalism; restructuring of the territorial
structures of Nigeria; instituting fiscal federalism; removal of factors
impairing true federalism; and a new constitution to be adopted by the
people at a referendum.
The
group comprises former Secretary-General of Commonwealth of Nations,
Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo;
Convener of Yoruba Assembly, Gen. Alani Akinrinade; former governor of
Cross Rivers; Mr. Donald Duke; former governor of Akwa-Ibom, Obong
Victor Attah; and Chairman of the National Democratic Coalition NADECO,
Rear Admiral Ndubusi Kanu (rtd).
Other
members include a businessman, Chief Harry Akande; a renowned political
economist, Prof. Pat Utomi; a professor of International Law, Prof.
Akin Oyebode; former President of Ijaw National Congress, Prof. Kimse
Okoko; former Managing Director of Daily Times of Nigeria, Chief Tola
Adeniyi; and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Solomon Asemota.
It
said: “The 1999 Constitution is not a democratic constitution. Indeed,
it is a constitution only in a loose sense of the word, but not in the
strict, generally accepted sense of an original act of the people by
which a state and its government are constituted.”
It,
therefore, contended that the 1999 Constitution was an imposition on
the people through Decree 24 of 1999, and canvassed the restructuring of
the country, saying it was not concerned about the system but the
actual conduct of government and the way it was formally organised in
terms of its power relations and territorial structures.
The
group also canvassed the need to institute resource control and fiscal
federalism, which it said, was at variance with the principle of
derivation stipulated in section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
It
said the provision countered to the principle of fiscal federalism,
noting that it was the source of much of the agitations about resource
control.
“Fiscal
federalism requires that mines and minerals including oil fields, oil
mining, geological surveys and natural gas should be a residual matter
with the exclusive competence of the regions or states,” the SLT said.
The
group then demanded that section 162 should, in its entirety, be
expunged from any new constitution and be made a residual matter in
accordance with the requirements of fiscal federalism.
It
emphasised the importance of restructuring the territorial structures
of the Nigeria in a way that powers would be taken away from the centre
and be given to the 36 states of the federation or to bigger territorial
structures based on regions or zones.
However,
it proposed a federation of eight regions comprising North-West,
North-Central, North-East, South-West, South-East, South-South, Middle
Belt (to be made up of Kwara, Kogi and Benue States) and Mid-West
(consisting Edo and Delta States).
It
noted: “A structure based on the existing 36 states raises the
questions of the viability of the state. Viability in this context
should not be viewed entirely in terms of economics. It should also be
considered in relation to other issues: a separate constitution; a
separate police force; a separate machinery to conduct elections for the
political functionaries.”
It
gave three main reasons why restructuring could not be effectively and
meaningfully by amendment to the 1999 Constitution, arguing that the
best way to achieve it is to promulgate a new constitution that would be
adopted by the people at a referendum.
The
SLT said the 1999 Constitution was unitary in nature, explaining that
having a single constitution for a federation contradicted the principle
of federalism.
It
argued: “It is a manifest contradiction to conceive of a government,
whether in a federal or unitary system, without a constitution.”
The group, therefore, lamented the subversive consequences of the contradiction of a single constitution for a federal system.
Mohammed denies news of Buhari’s trip to the US.
The
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has urged
Nigerians to disregard as fake, news being circulated via a parody
Twitter account and an old NTA news video that President Muhammadu
Buhari had travelled to the United States.
Mohammed
in a statement in Lagos on Sunday said one of the numerous parody
Twitter accounts in his name, @MohammedLai, @ “was used to disseminate
the fake and ludicrous news that claims that President Buhari is due to
leave Nigeria for the USA on Monday to condole with President Trump over
the floods in Houston.”
He
said an old NTA News video being circulated on the Social Media claims
that Buhari had already left for the UN General Assembly in New York.
”This
is a 2015 NTA News video that was repackaged to look current, and to
give the impression that the president left Daura, where he is
celebrating Eid-el-Kabir, directly for New York,” Mohammed said.
He
said Nigerians should disregard any news credited to any account in his
name, neither on Twitter nor Facebook, adding: ”Numerous parody
accounts have been opened in my name on the two platforms when indeed I
have no Twitter or Facebook accounts.”
Mohammed
recalled how the same parody Twitter account which was used to
disseminate the fake news about the president’s purported trip was
employed to circulate a fake report that he sharply criticized Senator
Dino Melaye for attending the Notting Hill Carnival in the UK.
He
said these two instances highlighted the dangers posed to the polity by
the purveyors of fake news and disinformation and vowed that the
federal government would soon fish out those behind them.
”Fake
news disinformation and hate speech are the antics of the naysayers,
those who are pathologically opposed to this administration. That is why
we are urging Nigerians to be more discerning and to double check any
information emanating from the social media,” Mohammed said.
QUIT AGITATION AND DEBATE ABOUT UNITY OF NIGERIA.----- OSIBANJO.
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
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