By Nwokedi Nworisara<\/p>\n
After what you called Presidential elections one of the fall outs has been
\nthe reported call by a Political Party in Lagos to Igbos to leave Lagos to
\ntheir \u201cown states\u201d if they fail to vote her candidates .There are reports
\nof harassment of traders by \u201carea boys\u201d loyal to a political godfather in
\nLagos and debates\u00a0 and suggestions of\u00a0 \u201cmass exodus to develop the east\u201d
\nThis situation is cumulation of past intrusions of religion and tribe into
\npolitics leading to\u00a0 avoidable clashes.<\/p>\n
Well this article is coming to call to caution those who think they can
\njust separate or impose their own vision on others without further ado. It
\nis not as simple as that. While power devolution may be worthwhile for
\nsustainable developmental ,we must also understand its dynamics and be
\nready to obey laid down rules some of which are not apparent. We must tell
\nourselves the home truth.<\/p>\n
First that Nigerian citizens have equal right to live anywhere in the
\ncountry including within their own native soils and no one can legally
\nprevent anyone from performing their legitimate tasks and that includes
\nvoting for a candidate of their choice. Only a federating Unit can grant
\nthe powers that \u201cLagosians\u201d are trying to appropriate.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately it seems that today ignorance of the Constitution is so
\npervasive that people now forget that the State is not even a federating
\nUnit. The 1999 constitution does not accord\u00a0 States the kind of powers
\nthat the original three Regions had and does not even give it to the newly
\ncreated \u201czones \u201cbecause\u00a0 it simply does not possess the legal powers to do
\nso being only a \u201ccaretaker constitution\u201d like that of 1979. The above is
\nso because these documents were merely\u00a0 extensions of military
\ncontraception\u2019s of 1966 and 1967 that enabled it rule Nigeria at a time of
\ncrises. There was no democratic process which should first settled the
\nhistorical problem of constitution making but chose to ignore it. The
\nmakers of these constitutions assumed wrongly that Regionalism and the
\n1963 constitution was abrogated but not knowing that it was only suspended
\nawaiting normalcy to return. So they went ahead in an attempt to change
\nit! In the learning process not being able to achieve their aim,they
\nproceeded to accord permanent engagement\u00a0 to the interim military and only
\nsucceeded in making permanent the crises the military had come to
\nremove.Today it has grown to a colossus as you can attest.<\/p>\n
So the \u201cYoruba\u201d if there truly exist such now does not have powers to
\norder out the Igbos if there is too such a homogeneous tribe to leave
\nLagos to their \u201cown State\u201d if indeed also there is such a State now. These
\nwere conceptions that preceded independence and no longer exist in the
\nsame sense going by the 1963 constitution. Nigeria as a nation recognizes
\nonly Regions as units of its democracy not States nor local councils nor
\nzones. That is why you cannot have a State police legally. That is why you
\ndo not have citizens of states but you did have citizens of Regions which
\nnow stand suspended awaiting its return when Nigeria overcomes the
\n\u201ccrisis\u201dor as Gen. Ironsi put it\u201d restores law and order\u201d and this is what
\nbrought the Military as caretaker to govern. Legally you cannot move
\nforward until you restore a status quo in a political structure that was
\nsuspended. That is why the six geopolitical zone is unworkable and cannot
\nbe empowered by law to act on its own. That is why the states are comatose
\nand cannot even grow politically. All these military experiments a la
\ndiarchy has failed too. The \u201cno -go areas\u201d that perpetuates our military
\ninfluence in governance cannot be backed by law even if you make them Acts
\nof the National Assembly and no matter the number of \u201ccivil rules\u201d you
\nhave had or constituent Assemblies or constitution you cannot empower the
\nState or local government to grow independent of your monthly allocation.
\nWhen indeed some of them attempt to find novel ways to do so the\u00a0 problem
\nof the whole will drag them back.<\/p>\n
So my friends don\u2019t even begin to think that you can one day drive the
\nIgbos back to their states because there is nothing like that. We are all
\nNigerians and upon that basis we live and work anywhere in Nigeria
\nawaiting when this merry go round will more properly delineate our
\nsubunits in accordance to the only credible law that derives from the
\nMasterplan of Nigeria as contained in the 1963 constitution. This can only
\nhappen when we lift the suspension of the 1963 Constitution in whole. Only
\nthen can each Region on its own as legal Federating units decide to create
\nStates or Zones or retain the present ones or even merge them.<\/p>\n
You see we suspended a constitution that remains nevertheless the basis of
\nour legal system. Unfortunately we have continued to use the same legal
\nsystem even when virtually disabled until today we begin to see that the
\nlaw no longer give justice in due time without extra padding or what you
\ncall corruption! We continued to manage all other institutions emanating
\nfrom the constitution we suspended expecting no distortion in outcome\u00a0 but
\ntruly the circle cannot close and we cry about corruption forgetting that
\nwe had spiritually corrupted everything ourselves. Now you need the army
\nto fight ballot box snatchers compared to the early sixties when the
\npolice is equipped with only a baton and they can arrest anyone anywhere
\nand lead the person through lonely bush paths to prison. All they need to
\nquote for you is a portion of the law and they receive your obedience. It
\nis just the effect of a properly aligned political structure whereby the
\nconstitution is in sync with the flag,coat of arm and the national Anthem
\nwhich goes along to produce stable\u00a0 and lasting institutions. Ie where the
\nvotes add up and two plus two makes four; where the citizens count,not
\nwhere there is always a discrepancy as to the number of the dead and
\nliving.<\/p>\n
So for those who think they are indigenes of a State and are swollen
\nheaded to residents they need to know that they have no more right than
\nthe ones they oppress since the only recognizable status is the Nigerian
\ncitizen and nothing else.<\/p>\n
But if we need to change things or we have to recognize any other thing
\nthen we have to lift the suspension on regionalism first. Then we can
\norganize and reorganize from that solid legal basis whatever we want to
\nbe,whether\u00a0 we want to live in trees or build skyscrapers or we want to
\nbuild walls all must be according to only one law,the 1963 constitution
\nand nothing else. To get there I have said it many a time,there is a
\nsimple way. Make simple declarations of purpose. Say that Nigeria is no
\nlonger in crises to enable the Military disengage properly. Then return
\nNigeria to the status quo of 1966. To do so we must understand that the
\nmilitary has no right nor capacity to speak for Nigeria. That the military
\nwas an aberration only a stop gap measure to restore law and order and
\nthat until we can agree indeed that law and order has been restored the
\nmilitary cannot disengage. Also to recognize that the military has not
\ndisengaged because their task has not been completed despite the many
\ncivil rules (1979-83;199-date )which have all but now ended in disasters
\nbeing only based on an imbalanced structure and\u00a0 laws .Also that you do
\nnot change something which was suspended. If you desire changes you must
\nreturn to the status quo and then make changes according to the only
\nwidely acceptable law still existing. Whatever you built up outside this
\nlaw is null and void because it cannot endure.<\/p>\n
For those who yearn to make laws that befits only their tribal brothers
\nthey also have to wait until the suspension is lifted and then they gather
\nin Regional Assemblies to pass their new laws which in essence must be in
\ntandem with the 1963 constitution. So don\u2019t rush to eject other tribes for
\nyou cannot even achieve it and cannot defend it. It is a furtive exercise
\nat this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Nwokedi Nworisara After what you called Presidential elections one of the fall outs has been the reported call by a Political Party in Lagos to Igbos to leave Lagos…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n