Date Published: 03/18/10

SALIENT THOUGHTS ON THE NIGERIAN CRISES By Nwokedi Nworisara

ON THE INAUGURATION OF THE SHADOW PARLIAMENT IN NEW YORK

At Last the inaugural session of the Nigerian Shadow cabinet held in New York with about hundred prominent Nigerian representatives in attendance. Several deliberations and decisions of vital importance were reached on cubing corruption, on ending the present constitutional impasse and on the way forward for Nigeria. In a matter of hours the Nigerian problem was solved by participants some of whom were university professors. It was piloted by Professor Okey Ndibe as Speaker,Laolu Akande as deputy speaker, Prof Aluko ,Omoyole Sowore,Bunmi Aborishade, amongst others., While Sowore moved a motion that the President be declared incapacitated, and was adopted; Aborishade wanted Iwu sacked from the Independent Electoral Commission and it was also voted for unanimously. However, motion for the impeachment of the President was dropped. Committees were to be set up to implement decisions of the parliament. You can feel the freedom and there is nothing Nigeria cannot accomplish now. For those skeptics, the decisions of this Parliament are law and can be implemented by committees. It is more legal than any other we know today. These committees will appropriate their funding from any where and will appoint officers and set targets. It will have annual budgets and appropriation bills with oversight functions. It will involve lobbying and pressure from those affected in Nigeria and cases can be referred to international courts and even national police. It will build institutions and will offer Nigerians more jobs than the Abuja Assembly. No one should be excluded no matter how un progressive his ideas are. We must set examples inclusiveness of all shades of opinions even saboteurs have right, but we need to stay ahead on the move to be always victorious. No one needs fear persecution. History is being made here and people should be proud to be counted in this movement. Disclose names of speakers and representatives. What you are doing will soon be the in thing everyone in Nigeria will soon join you in debates but you must make personal sacrifice by showing the world you stand with what you believe in. This is why the Nigerian revolution must be transparent and just in its process to awaken the support of all Nigerians and the world. Anything less will make this effort sectional thereby reducing its credibility. Soon other countries will copy your style

ON WHETHER NIGERIA SHOULD DIVIDE

You are assuming many things in asking this question. first that there is a regional representation-north, south etc.

The truth is there is nothing like that. Second you think that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan represents the south. Again there is nothing like that. Everyone in Nigeria of the old extraction represents only themselves since they were not properly elected. The problem of Nigeria is affecting both the North and the south alike, both Muslims and Christians alike.

Religious and Geo- political calculations come into force to bridge the gap created by the incapacity of political leaders to fill their usurped positions. The True Nigeria has never been given a chance to be. So, disintegration cannot happen until integration has been given a proper chance and has been seen to fail. The New Nigeria will surely arise by merely upgrading merit and hence improved leadership capacity will naturally emerge to elevate a new mode of operation in the polity. The internal situation cannot allow this vision to grow so we need outside help from Nigerians abroad to reposition that new Nigeria in the minds of the discouraged populace. So turn your gaze to New York where Nigerians have established a shadow parliament to proffer solutions and how to put it into form. Don’t waste your time reasoning with those who cannot reason properly by reason of our common depravity.

ON THE USE OF TOO MUCH ‘GRAMMER’ TO MITIGATE OBVIOUS DIVISION

I wish it is as easy as that but it is not. Nigeria cannot afford the consequences of multiple balkanization. Nigeria cannot afford a civil war. Ironically it is because these 'grammar' exist, that is why war has remained abbey. We must continue talking and finding the best way out if we should avoid playing into the hands of those whose brain is dead and who prefer to discourage those with fertile minds from exhibiting proper leadership which they lack. The New Nigeria cannot exist if we are prevented from discussing it and that is why the opposition have arraigned a massive attack on freedom of expression in Nigeria at the moment because they want Nigerians to be so frustrated as no longer to reason. As long as we are talking we cannot be killing each other. The day they succeed in stopping the present debate then prepare for war. There is already a plan to close down internet sites and stop people from browsing. Some people have been employed to make negative contributions to forums. We are aware of these schemes geared at driving Nigeria into another round of instability, but the new Nigerians will resist it and these evil schemes will eventually fail.

ON THE JOS CRISES

John, you are right about the problems of Nigeria. The events in Jos are very disturbing and I call on all Nigerians to observe a minute silence for the dead as I am going to do now...........................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................... We mourn those children and mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who have been killed because we delayed to act to resolve the Nigerian problem since a similar killing took place in 1967 and almost every 5 years hence. We have proven to the world that we have not and will never learn anything from history. instead we engage in denials of despicable acts and bloodletting. We are busy denying the number of people killed and stopping photographs from being taken and published. We need to declare days of mourning for this waste of our people by our people. As for confederacy you may be right. Read my Blueprint for a new Nigeria and you will see we are thinking alike. The British used it in their indirect rule of the colonial era. We need to move quickly before it is too late to make changes.

ON TACKLING NIGERIAS MOUNTAINOUS PROBLEMS

With People like Icy queen and my friend Tunde Adekoya and the quality of their discuss, Nigeria should not be going round the same problem again and again. While your inputs are factual but it focuses on what is and not what we want it to be. We cannot continue to look at the enormity of this problem and get discouraged by it. Things can change overnight, remember and it depends on our positive attitude to it. What we need to do is to decide that our children should not suffer the same fate and we can go ahead to overlook the mountain and giants on the way and design an ideal which can at least give us hope for a future resolution. Today’s despondency is heightened by the belief that there is no hope for Nigeria as a nation. Worse configurations of Nations occur in the world. The difference with our case being that their people sat down to build a future without considering the impossible present. For those of us who are religious we know that nothing is impossible. If the British considered the warring nature of the tribes they found in Nigeria they could never had built an amalgamated Nigeria for us to seek independence of in 1960.So we cannot sit back and consider the dirty things our hopelessness brought to us and say there is no hope for Nigeria as one nation.

Mr. Nworisara aspired to be President of Nigeria in 1992