Tempo (Lagos)
19 April 2000
Lagos — Last February, Kaduna State experienced an orgy of violence and destruction occasioned by the alleged attempts of the State Government to impose Sharia on the citizenry. Most of those who fell victims of the arsonists were reported to be people from the South- Eastern part of the country.
Consequently, elected Governors of South-Eastern Nigeria met on 6 March, 2000 in Enugu "to discuss matters common to them."
At the end of the meeting, the five Governors of Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Abia and Imo, in reacting to the Kaduna mayhem, called for the institutionalisation of confederacy in Nigeria as a panacea to the persistent inter-ethnic clashes that the country experiences with undiminished frequency.
The Governors actually affirmed that the adoption of confederal principles for the governance of the country is the only basis "for the continued existence of Nigeria." Reacting to the Eastern Governors' demand for confederation, President Olusegun Obasanjo described their agitation as unpatriotic, mischievous and treasonable.
Ever since, several informed and not so-informed views have been offered on the desirability or otherwise of confederation in a country like Nigeria. We are not so worried at the strident clamour for confederacy as we are of the cynical attempts to dismiss it.
A country that is experiencing a ferment of agitations and inter- communal suspicions ought to be receptive to calls for restructuring. Confederation, like any other politico-administrative system, has its merits and demerits.
What government is expected to do in the circumstance is to examine all proposals and present such proposals before the people who, alone, reserve the right to accept or reject them.
There is no doubt that the present Federal arrangement in Nigeria is lopsided, unjust, inequitable and iniquitous.
An elected government which purports to have the people's mandate ought to be prepared to reverse the unwholesome trend and correct the noticeable imbalance. We may not all be convinced that confederacy is the answer to Nigeria's numerous problems but it is the government's duty to allow ideas to flourish in order to arrive at the best option of "moving the nation forward."
President Olusegun Obasanjo erred in treating the South-Eastern Governors' demand so cavalierly. He should, on the contrary, request for the details of the contents of the confederacy proposal.
With this latest call, the Federal Government must now consider the convening of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) as a critical necessity to douse the ever-widening fire of agitations and demands from several parts of the country.
The argument that the existence of a National Assembly makes the call for a Sovereign National Conference unnecessary does not hold water. Afterall, the presence of a purportedly democratically-elected government could not stop the introduction of Sharia in Zamfara State. For that matter, it is an indication that legality alone is insufficient to evoke the people's loyalty to the Nigerian state. If the Nigerian state is to endure, it should boast not only of legality but legitimacy. So long as there are people who feel dissatisfied with the state as it is presently constituted, so long will the legitimacy of the state be put to question.
If at the end of a Sovereign National Conference, the people choose to vote for true federalism or confederation, so be it. Let no one be in any doubt that the shibboleth about Nigeria's unity being non- negotiable is no longer acceptable to a teeming majority of our population. Many are now convinced that there can be no unity without some negotiations.
We call on President Obasanjo and all other defenders of the 'ancien regime" in Nigeria to face the new reality and join hands with others to re-establish the basis for the continued unity and survival of our great country. To insist otherwise is to voice a plea for reaction.
Publication date: April 27, 2000
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