A legal practitioner based in Ughelli, Mr. Miakpo Emiaso, has observed that unless the fundamental challenge of Nigeria’s federal structure is addressed and resolved, the country will continue to remain difficult to govern.
Mr. Emiaso made the observation recently in Ughelli at the inauguration of the president of Rotaract Club of Ughelli Metropolis where he was the guest lecturer during which he added his voice to the call on all violent protesters in the South South especially the Niger Delta Avengers, MASSOB and IPOB to lay down their arms and embrace dialogue since they have already made their point.
Delivering his lecture on the topic Dialogue or Violence: the Best Way to Solve Nigeria’s Crisis, Emiaso who is President of an Area Customary Court in the Delta State judiciary, remarked that Nigeria was beset with a myriad of crises all of which are traceable to the fundamental problem of a lopsided type of federal system of government which the country presently operates.
Delving into the historical development of Nigeria, the guest lecturer said he was persuaded by the views of such great Nigerian leaders like Chief Richard Akinjide SAN that all the problems of Nigeria can be traced to the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorates by Lord Lugard in 1914 and stressed that unless and until the inequities imposed by that amalgamation are addressed, running Nigeria effectively will remain a difficult undertaking.
He frowned at the choice of language of some Nigerian leaders who maintain that Nigeria’s unity was not negotiable and stated that there was nothing unnegotiable about Nigeria’s unity since other leaders including the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo has described Nigeria as a mere geographical entity which the lecturer agreed with.
Mr. Emiaso who also pointed out that even General Yakubu Gowon had in 1966 in all honesty stated that there was no basis for Nigeria’s unity wondered why certain persons were afraid of renegotiating the basis for Nigeria’s continued unity even in the face of unending violent protestations.
According to the guest lecturer, “unless and until this fundamental crisis is resolved, all other crises … will remain with us. And to resolve this, Nigerians must talk. The Nigerian state must be renegotiated. That there is a renegotiation does not necessarily lead to a disintegration. It only leads to a spelling out of an agreed terms under which the various nations which constitute the country are willing to remain together under one flag.”
The guest lecturer maintained that talking, dialogue or renegotiation is to be preferred to the continued mutual suspicion pervading the present amalgamated arrangement where no one section is satisfied that it is not being marginalized. He then cautioned leaders to refrain from comments that emphasise that the idea of a one Nigeria is not negotiable and that those clamouring for anything different had better accept this pointing out that such statements contain veiled threats and do not engender unity but instead stoke the fires of disunity.
“Retaining Nigerias unity or improving on it is achievable”, the guest lecturer posited, but that it cannot be achieved “|by force of arms or by intimidation or threats.”
