The Restructuring Claptrap: The Inconvenient Truths

By Bamidele Ademola-Olateju

Who moved our Federal cheese? Yesterday, I wrote on this wall that; "we know history". Some of us do and we will not hesitate to bring issues to the front burner when the need arises. History will never be kind to shortsighted leaders and it certainly will expose the hypocrisy of those who attempt to rewrite it. Lately, the noise has been about restructuring. Do we have to restructure? How did we get to this sorry Unitary system? Follow me!
Nigeria's independence was negotiated on Federalism platform. Former Canadian Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker described Federalism best when he said; “Federalism means that you eat what you kill”. The 1963 Constitution was based on Federalism
- every region ate what they killed. Among the key political actors of the time; Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, there was no disagreement on Federalism. There was no need to replace it. Every region was doing great and developing based on what "they killed". Then the question; who fixed what was not broken? Why was the Constitution abrogated? Who took Federal out of our Federal Republic? Perhaps we should ask one of the High Priests of "Restructuring" who was a key legal resource in drafting the Unification Decree No 34 of 1966. His name is Prof. Ben Nwabueze. While he is still alive, we should ask him; is it by coincidence that the Unitarist position in the NCNC manifesto of 1951 found its way into the Unification Decree of 1966? Can he tell us what caused his conversion from a Unitarist, to the high priest of restructure?
We can hem and haw through the unfortunate bends and rough patches of Nigeria’s history. We can emphasize the injustices meted out to our group while ignoring the disastrous undercurrents that fed it. It will not help us become a better union. We need Thinkers and Patriots who are ready to face the inconvenient truths and advance the greater good for everyone regardless of ethnicity, religion and other dividers.
The shortsighted Unitary system has bitten us all, including those who thought it will serve them best! Under the Unitary system, the power elite and their cronies gathered our nuts and shelled it for themselves and their families. The result is overarching poverty across the geopolitical zones. Extreme poverty is now feeding agitations and annoyances across Nigeria under different guises.
The easiest way to save Nigeria is to re-adopt the 1963 Republican constitution and create deliberate safeguards against structured structured individual poverty and national underdevelopment. To take the words of Voltaire up a notch. We need to make great the enemy of good!