{"id":1697,"date":"2021-04-01T20:35:43","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T20:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vor.org.ng\/?p=1697"},"modified":"2022-08-13T19:35:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T19:35:55","slug":"nigeria-is-better-united-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lekan Sote
\n\"\"
\nThe Presidential candidate of People\u2019s Trust in the 2019 general election, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, insists that \u201cDespite the increasingly frustrating realities in Nigeria, a united Nigeria still remains our best bet.\u201d
\nHe continues: \u201cSeparatist advocacies are always ever so seductive during the moment of crisis, but they never deliver good results afterwards. Ask the people of Southern Sudan. After\u2026 they seceded from Sudan, they are still embroiled in factional wars among their leaders.
\n\u201cDespite their oil wealth, their people are still savouring (sic), (he probably meant to say, wallowing) in poverty and the GDP in their economy is lower than that of Ogun State (of Nigeria).\u201d It is curious that he did not suggest how the crisis could be ended, or at least mitigated.
\nHis submission probably encouraged Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Borno State Governor, Baba Gana Zulum, to conclude that neither secession nor restructuring would do any good to Nigerians.
\nBut then, their All Progressives Congress political co-traveller and Chairman, Nigerian Governors\u2019 Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, is of the opinion that devolution of powers to the federating units is way to go. He deftly avoided adding, \u201cOr else, the nation could break up.\u201d
\nAt great cost of lives, limbs and properties, the government of former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, whose surname was turned into the slogan, \u201cGo On With One Nigeria,\u201d prosecuted a civil war, with an compelling theme, \u201cTo Keep Nigeria One Is A Task That Must Be Done.\u201d
\nIf you read The Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 essays, written by Publius, pseudonym of three of America\u2019s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury; James Madison, fourth President of America; and John Jay, second Governor of New York State and first Chief Justice of America\u2019s Supreme Court, you would agree with Olawepo-Hashim it is better for Nigeria to remain one.
\nThe most existentialist thrust of the Federalist Papers is economical: \u201cUnrestrained intercourse between the States themselves will advance the trade of each by an interchange of their respective productions, not only for the supply of reciprocal wants at home, but for exportation to foreign markets.\u201d
\nIt adds: \u201cThe veins of commerce in every part will be replenished, and will acquire additional motion and vigor from a free circulation of the commodities of every part. Commercial enterprise will have much greater scope, from the diversity in the productions of different States.
\n\u201cWhen the staple of one fails from a bad harvest or unproductive crop, it can call to its aid the staple of another. The variety, not less than the value, of products for exportation contributes to the activity of foreign commerce.
\n\u201cIt can be conducted upon much better terms with a large number of materials of a given value than with a small number of materials of the same value; arising from the competitions of trade and from the fluctuations of markets.\u201d
\nThe Federalist Papers tried to convince citizens of the original 13 colonies, of America\u2019s Northeast corridor, to take advantage of the economic benefits of forming a consolidated union to be styled The United States of America.
\nThe document was however written, originally, to urge the people of New York State, and by extension, the rest of Americans, to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America that was drafted in 1782. The Constitution had three main purposes.
\nTo take advantage of the economies of scale and diversity of resources, it was agreed that it would be better to merge the 13 colonies into one country, set up a federal system of government and list the powers to be vested in the central government and those reserved for the federating units.
\nIt was agreed that it would be wise to separate the powers of all the strata of government into the executive, legislative and judiciary branches, so that they would serve as checks and balances to each other.
\nArticle II set the foundational and fundamental tone of The Article of Confederation that was ratified in 1781, five years after the unilateral Declaration of Independence of Americans from the tyranny of the United Kingdom\u2019s sovereign and his government.
\nThe Article categorically states, \u201cEach state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.\u201d
\nThat is why the President of America is elected by an Electoral College of state delegates and not quite the popular votes, erroneously deduced from President Abraham Lincoln\u2019s suggestion that democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people.
\nThe intention of \u201cthe People of the United States (was) to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, to ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.\u201d
\nAs long as these agreements were respected and honoured by state actors and the citizens, there would be no problem. To their credit, Americans have stayed faithful to their Constitution and its objectives, though they sometimes stretch the rhema of its logos.
\nNigeria too has made efforts to give unto its people wholesome political values: The London Constitutional Conference, held between July 30 and August 22, 1953, among Nigerian nationalists, agreed that the regional governments should be independent of the central government in the content of the Reserve List left to them.
\nThe intention of \u201cthe People of the United States (was) to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, to ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.\u201d
\nAs long as these agreements were respected and honoured by state actors and the citizens, there would be no problem. To their credit, Americans have stayed faithful to their Constitution and its objectives, though they sometimes stretch the rhema of its logos.
\nNigeria too has made efforts to give unto its people wholesome political values: The London Constitutional Conference, held between July 30 and August 22, 1953, among Nigerian nationalists, agreed that the regional governments should be independent of the central government in the content of the Reserve List left to them.
\nThese resolutions led to the following features of the Nigerian federation: a written federal constitution, supremacy of the Federal Government (understandably), bicameral legislature, repudiation of secession and division of Nigeria into regions.
\nThe rationale for these were: Nigeria\u2019s large population and wide geographical landmass, need to protect minorities, promotion of rapid and even development, and bringing government closer to the people.
\nOther equally important rationales were expansion of the domestic market, diversity of culture, religion, language, customs and traditions, and the need to guarantee autonomy of each of the ethnic nationalities.
\nBut reneging on the agreed federal system of government and replacing it with a unitary, or pseudo federal, system, have had exceeding traumatic effect on Nigerians of every ilk, religion and ethnic stock.
\nThe 1999 Constitution, clone of the 1979 Constitution, which is essentially unitary in nature, is a brazen disregard of the aspirations of Nigeria\u2019s founding fathers. Even then, this military document has been observed mostly in the breach by elected state actors exemplified by the current regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
\nAll the grand thoughts of Nigeria\u2019s founding fathers have been derailed, resulting in a centralised, unjust and insensitive revenue allocation formula and utter disregard of the rights of others. Both have understandably led to calls for secession.
\nNigerians must intentionally choose between restructuring and (recently alluring) ethnic self-determination, to arrive at the goal of justice for all.
\nSource: PunchNG<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lekan Sote The Presidential candidate of People\u2019s Trust in the 2019 general election, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, insists that \u201cDespite the increasingly frustrating…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[737],"tags":[534,535,536,537,538,539,540],"class_list":["post-1697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-all-progressives-congress","tag-baba-gana-zulum","tag-but","tag-dr-kayode-fayemi","tag-general-yakubu-gowon","tag-nigeria-is-better-united","tag-rotimi-amaechi"],"yoast_head":"\nNigeria is better united, but\u2026 - Voice of Reason<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026 - Voice of Reason\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lekan Sote The Presidential candidate of People\u2019s Trust in the 2019 general election, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, insists that \u201cDespite the increasingly frustrating…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Voice of Reason\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-01T20:35:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-13T19:35:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/\",\"name\":\"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026 - Voice of Reason\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-01T20:35:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-13T19:35:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#\/schema\/person\/91559f4e2f3e76b97df68b1ffb23afa4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":422},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/\",\"name\":\"Voice of Reason\",\"description\":\"Your No. 1 Source of Mind Blowing Articles\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#\/schema\/person\/91559f4e2f3e76b97df68b1ffb23afa4\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd607f124d89a2e9ee3bcd1565b126ea93e9164bf63a6d09fa320f456a4e9425?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd607f124d89a2e9ee3bcd1565b126ea93e9164bf63a6d09fa320f456a4e9425?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026 - Voice of Reason","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026 - Voice of Reason","og_description":"By Lekan Sote The Presidential candidate of People\u2019s Trust in the 2019 general election, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, insists that \u201cDespite the increasingly frustrating…","og_url":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/","og_site_name":"Voice of Reason","article_published_time":"2021-04-01T20:35:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-13T19:35:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":422,"url":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/","url":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/","name":"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026 - Voice of Reason","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-04-01T20:35:43+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-13T19:35:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#\/schema\/person\/91559f4e2f3e76b97df68b1ffb23afa4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/nigerian-map.jpeg","width":600,"height":422},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/2021\/04\/01\/nigeria-is-better-united-but\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nigeria is better united, but\u2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#website","url":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/","name":"Voice of Reason","description":"Your No. 1 Source of Mind Blowing Articles","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#\/schema\/person\/91559f4e2f3e76b97df68b1ffb23afa4","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd607f124d89a2e9ee3bcd1565b126ea93e9164bf63a6d09fa320f456a4e9425?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd607f124d89a2e9ee3bcd1565b126ea93e9164bf63a6d09fa320f456a4e9425?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor"],"url":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3442,"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697\/revisions\/3442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ictnetworldltd.com\/newvor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}