Considering poor and mineral resource-barren Singapore as a drag on its development, Malaysia expelled its distraught partner from the union on 9th August, 1965 after Nigeria-type religious and race riots in July and September 1964 by the Malaysians playing God. Yes, it may liberate the South but it will not necessarily shackle the North if the examples of Malaysia and Singapore are anything to go by. On both sides of the divide, there is ignorance that restructuring or a return to federalism of the 1960/63 model will hurt the North and liberate the South. Ignorance and selfish interest are two of the major reasons why some Nigerian leaders have been opposed to true federalism. Until that is solved, no progress will be made rather, the country will move in circles until disaster strikes it! And we have examples to learn from if George Santayana is not to be proved right that one lesson history teaches is that men do not learn from history. JTU Aguiyi-Ironsi destroyed after he took over the leadership of the first military coup in the country’s history in January 1966 and which successive military juntas further cemented.Ī unitary system of government masquerading as a federal system of government is at the crux of Nigeria’s problem. That was the template left by the retreating colonial master in 1960 – a Federal system of government – but which the military government of Gen. Some have managed it better than the others, like, for instance, our erstwhile colonial master, Britain, in the union (United Kingdom) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. What differs is how it has been managed in different climes. Is America not always sharply divided between pro- and anti-abortionists, embers usually fanned by the individual’s religious perspectives? Ask the Blacks and Latinos whether race or the colour of their skin or eyes and the accent of their tongue play any role in their place in American society! The National Question, as Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, addressed it, is not limited to Nigeria but is worldwide. Did not the Evangelicals support embattled President Donald Trump to the very end? Even in the advanced democracies, both have never been obliterated as we erroneously appear to believe here. But nationalities and religion have always played dominant roles in politics in all climes and throughout the ages. The same thinking applies to religion, which many have come to believe is our problem and they would, therefore, have it banished or downplayed, just like the Marxists of old had reasoned, following in the trail of Karl Marx’s description of religion as the opium of the masses. Nigeria’s politics have always been the exclusive preserve of the deep pockets: Shall we follow the same trajectory or will 2023 be refreshingly different? What we call ethnicity or tribalism here but which in other climes are more appropriately defined as the national question and the politics of nationalities have played a defining role in our politics so much so that we have erroneously come to the conclusion that we must banish it from our body-politic before we can record any appreciable level of success. Will the campaign be issue-based if so, what will the issues be? Will they be issues that speak to the pains of the people or will money politics and stomach infrastructure play a dominant role as before? Thousands of elective posts will be up for grabs but the star prize is the presidency, followed by the governorship and then the National Assembly seats. Now that the campaigns towards the 2023 elections have started, what will the candidates campaign with? The stars of the campaigns are the presidential candidates – Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
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