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Says it’s spur for
Nigeria’s breakup
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Weapon for Biafra,
separatist agitators to drive ambitions
President Muhammadu
Buhari, would now have to find an effective talisman, to prevent the breakup of
Nigeria, beyond his iron-fist strategy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, said, Friday night.
Reviewing the
circumstances that saw Britain exit the European Union, the renowned diplomat,
argued that agitators for the state of Biafra, Niger Delta separatist entities
in Nigeria and other parts of the world have been handed a strong weapon to
drive their ambitions.
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| Prof. Akinyemi |
Akinyemi, who was a guest
on Channels Television 10 O’clock News, told his host that Britain had actually
set a bad example that would have a domino effect across the world, blaming the
Prime Minister, David Cameron for the development.
Denouncing the Prime
Minister for putting such a delicate matter in the hands of those who hardly
understood the issues, rather than a more sophisticated body like the
parliament, he said the world had grown beyond such elementary democracy.
“The world has grown
beyond elementary democracy, where everything must be taken to the people
whether they understand the issue or not. Rather, what we now have is
representative democracy, where the people elect others to think for them,” he
said.
Explaining the import of
the development on Nigeria, he said that only a deft move by Buhari, would
prevent the disintegration of Nigeria, due to increased agitation from
separatist groups that would now be pointing to the British example and
building their case therefrom.
Incidentally, he spoke
minutes after the President himself, hailed the British Prime Minister, for his
decision to respect the will of the people.
Even though he said he
was saddened that Cameron, would be exiting government in the way he did,
Buhari, in a statement by his spokesman, Garuba Shehu, said his resignation in
response to the outcome of a referendum that supported Britain to leave the
European Union “was a demonstration of courage by a democratic leader who
respects the will of the people, even if he didn’t agree with their decision.”
He noted that by
‘‘putting the will of the people before his political future, the Prime
Minister proved himself to be a selfless leader with respect for democracy
and voter sovereignty.’’
But Akinyemi, saw danger
in the development, regarding the unity of Nigeria, as those countering its
breakup might not have very strong point to continue maintaining their
position.
Here’s how he captures
the entire import of the development, including the dangers ahead: “It’s like
debating about a common currency for ECOWAS and you put it to vote, where
Dangote would have one vote, Otedola would have one vote, Elumelu would have
one vote, you would have one vote, Akinyemi would have one vote, a gardener
would have one vote and a truck pusher would have one vote. What do they
understand about the complexities of a common currency?
“That’s why you have
parliament. He should have left it to the parliament to debate and take the
decision on behalf of the people.
“This is a leap in the
dark. It is a leap off the cliff. Nobody knows what is going to happen. This
has never happened before. And that is why it is going to take two years, even
though the President of the European Union said he hoped that the divorce would
be clean, sharp and no wastage of time. I think the British will like to drag
it out. We just have to monitor things and see the way it will go. But I
foresee a situation where the British will seek to energise the commonwealth as
they seek to build new building blocks for their global role. Whether that
would work or not, I don’t knows. But that obviously will affect us as one of
the leaders of the commonwealth.
“Over the years, or do I
say over the decades, the European Union has had a positive effect on the
development of the African Union, to the effect that we even copied their name.
We changed our name from the OAU to the African Union, in other to copy, in a
positive way, developments in the European Union. Apart from Morocco that has
stayed out of the old OAU, nobody had thought about the possibility of exiting
the AU is an option on the table. But now this has happened in the European
Union, obviously, it becomes a policy option on the table for those who are not
happy about the AU over one thing or the other.
“The same thing is going
to happen with ECOWAS. We are not happy with some of the decisions coming out
of the ECOWAS court. Before, nobody would think that you could possibly leave
ECOWAS. But now the British has set a very bad precedent, for all of us, it is
a calamity, not just for the British, but for the European Union, the African
Union and ECOWAS.
“In a more direct way, we
need to fear in Nigeria. One of the possibilities of development in Britain, is
actually Scotland that voted massively and positively to remain in the European
Union, actually voting in another referendum to leave the United Kingdom.
“If that happens, don’t
forget we fought a civil war in this country. And a large part of the reason
why Nigeria won that civil war, was because the rest of the world was on the
side of the Federal Government. Nobody wanted to hear of exiting of anything.
But if Scotland exits the United Kingdom, you have so many groups in Nigeria,
who have fears and who have grievances about what we call the Nigerian project.
That will energise their activities and it will now make the prospect of
demanding that they should be allowed to leave Nigeria a high probability.
“So, to that extent, it
is a danger for us. But I hope that the fact that it is going to take two years
for development to mature, which means Scotland itself will not gather
referendum until about two years time. That Nigeria has the window of
opportunity of two years to sort itself out, to get its acts together, you must
address the fears and the grievances of the various protest groups and protest
movements that you have all over the country. This is not a pretty day for
people who believe in multi-nationalism and people who believe integration, not
just in Britain, but all over the world. It is not a happy day.
“We are having a debate
now about the outcome of the 2014 national conference. The President said he
doesn’t like it. Fair enough. But, the problems that we sort to address at that
national conference, are still there, are still confronting the country. He has
got to address those problems. And that’s why I said, Nigeria has a window of
opportunity of two years. The President, who is the embodiment of the Nigerian
state, has got to sit down and face squarely how he is going to face the
situation.
“The bombing of the oil
pipelines, the reduction in the oil export, the reduction in the revenue
accruing to Nigeria, are already issues that have caught his attention. I hope
he knows how short two years can be.”
