10 months ago
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Human rights activists have identified bad governance and mismanagement of public resources as the main reasons for demands for secession in the country.
They urged the government to champion an all-inclusive coordination of affairs of the country to stem the ugly trend.
The activists, which included Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; a former senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani; Femi Falana (SAN); a former Nigerian Bar Association National General Secretary, Dele Adesina(SAN); Ezenwa Nwagu among others, spoke on Monday at the 20th Annual Gani Fawehinmi Lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, titled: “Right to Self Determination and Agitation for Secession in Nigeria.”
Soyinka, who chaired the occasion, said, “It is no longer one society when you have different gradations of law, different gradations of sensibilities towards that institution and that entity called justice,” stating that such issues make people say, “listen, let’s get out of this mess and form our own community.”
On his part, Sanni, who decried the predominant tribalism and ethnic segregation in Nigeria, said, “We can’t find justice simply because the perpetrators are from our tribes or religious groups and we keep quiet. Villagers now pay terrorists in Nigeria. There are some places where villagers pay terrorists to protect them from bandits. It is imperative for us to stand up against these issues.
“We must accept the fact that as a people, if this country is going to survive we must not lose our touch, as men and women of consciousness to stand for what is right. If this country is to move forward, we must learn to speak truth to power regardless of their ethnic groups.
Meanwhile Falana asked Nigerians to hold the government officials accountable in the spending of taxpayers’ funds.
He said Nigerians should be persistent in demanding good governance in the country.
Speaking on the need for active participation in the governing system, the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Pedro Lawal (SAN), who represented the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, urged all human rights activists to emulate the late Gani Fawehinmi by getting involved in government.
“Even in the state House of Assembly here in Lagos, we rarely see the agitators participate in the public hearing. History has also ended in the country, now we are saying that history must be taught in our schools so that the way our democracy is fought for is remembered,” Lawal said.
Also, Nwagu, a human rights activist, condemned the political class who he said opened the room for tribalism due to their personal gain.
“The people in my village don’t want to secede to anywhere. They sing national anthem till tomorrow. What they want is better lives for themselves and they can make that happen. The Nigerian people want a big, prosperous country. This whole idea of Ibo, Yoruba is used when they want to have dubious advantage.”
