FORMER vice chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo in Oyo State, Rt. Reverend Dapo Asaju, has listed three grounds that should warrant restructuring of Nigeria, without further delay.
Asaju, who is the Bishop in charge of the Diocese of Ilesa Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), said one of such factors is that the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914 was a fraud because it was not based on a referendum.
The Bishop, in his charge at the second section of the 17th Synod of the Ilesa Anglican diocese, maintained that the amalgamation document was not signed by the representatives or leaders of the constituent nations that were forcefully married without their consent.
Besides, Asaju mentioned the expiration of the 100-year lifespan of the Amalgamation Edict that brought about the unilateral unification of the protectorates for the necessity for restructuring.
Asaju, who blamed Nigerians in general for the “malady the country has found itself today by our acts of omission or commission,” noted that the “way and manner the leaders govern and kill each other even over local government elections showed that “we are ourselves not mature and disciplined enough to govern ourselves aright.”
He called for a deep reflection from “those who glamour for secession” to avert what he described as the scenario of the former Soviet Union, even as he expressed disgust over the crass failure of political leadership in certain parts of the country more than other areas.
“Besides, those who are Yoruba and Igbo leaders at the moment, have they been able to govern their states progressively? Politicians are the same everywhere; a bunch of selfish rogues, except for the exceptional few.
“The point I am making is that breaking Nigeria does not guarantee better lot of the poor masses; it will just be replacing a set of foreign rogues with local ones.
“Our leaders at the moment have no ideologies, no educational erudition, no finesse of charisma, no agenda, no character nor integrity, no principles nor discipline; just fashion shows, rather than ideologues and pragmatic developers.
“There are no more thinkers in Nigeria. The authors of inspiring political books are gone. We can count not less than 10 books authored by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a typical Philosopher king,” he asserted.
Citing the fratricidal war that ravaged Rwanda, Asaju warned against the use of rhetoric to open innocent and poor Nigerians up to mayhem, especially on calls for secession by certain sections of the country.
He canvassed that the elders of the various stakeholders in the Nigerian project should convoke a conference to discuss the Nigerian Question with the aim of producing viable recommendations on how to restructure the country in a manner that will ensure peace, equity, federalism and less expensive system of government.
Part of the objectives, he said, will be to jettisoning the current presidential system for a parliamentary arrangement or a newly designed indigenous system of government.
The bishop equally lamented what he considered the dearth of visionary leadership across the board as the bane of the country.
“We should all pray and work towards the peace and unity of Nigeria. We are better off as one unlimited nation. We suffer at the moment from chronic lack of credible and progressive leadership in all the ethnic nationalities.
“After the exit of the founding fathers of Nigeria, we have not succeeded in growing or grooming replacement of charismatic, knowledgeable and disciplined leaders with Spartan lifestyles and philosophical erudition,” he stated.
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