Rebirth Group Symposium: Nigerians Demand Regional Autonomy, Blame Bad Leadership for Nigeria’s Woes

…As Nigerians from diverse ethnic groups unite to talk nation’s challenges

Stakeholders has attributed the challenges Confronting Nigeria to the incompetence and bad leaders that control the nation’s constitution and not the existing structure.

They advise the federal government to create the country into regions and to empower the region to have self determination within the region and the states they are in.

This was stated at the symposium organized by Concern Nigeria group called “Rebirth Group and Rebuilding Nigeria which comprises various ethnic group across Nigeria, Chair by Ambassador Yemi Farounbi theme: From The Founding Fathers to The Prodigal Sons and Daughters: The Challenges of Nation Building and Development held at Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Ibadan,Oyo state.

In his address, The Emeritus Professor, John Ayoade described the failed state of Nigeria as a country to the failed system adopted by the nation’s leaders.

He advised government to ensure they listen to the People’s agitation, called them for deliberation inorder to proffer solutions to the prevailing challenges confronting the development of the country.

Professor Ayoade said that “The journey we have traveled so far, Nigeria has attempted to establish a Federal system but we have not been honest about it because what we have been trying to do is to get government to do wishes of certain people rather than wishes of the people.

“That is why our Federal system has not worked.

“We then proposed that we should have a Federal system in which all state will be equal and all citizens will enjoy that equality.

“There is no way that we can survive with all this conflicts and all this political insincerity which is going on and that is why once we find out what is going on about every body either talking about cessation or talking about separate state and so on.

“Is all because the system is not working and we cannot ignore them because they have a right to speak, their welfare is also the requirement and their rights, we cannot say they should shut-up.

“What we should do is listening to them and then get a system that works in every body in which everybody find peace in which every body is protected, in which every body’s welfare is taken account of.

“Any system which appears just by appearance to be cheating some other people will not work.

“We must do everything that will can to ensure that the government which we established is the government of all and is to the benefit of all.

“The present administration appears to want to be fair to all, they should go ahead and implement that.

“It requires courage because they going to meet opposition but whatever the opposition they meet, they should face it in the interest of the people.

“The agitation which are all over the place is because the system is not working, if the system work nobody would complain about something that is working.

“When you hear about things that is not working then it is necessary for the government to look at it itself and see what it can do about it rather than just dismiss it as noise maker.

“A government that listen is going to be a government that works.

“The challenges is not impossible to solve and i always tell people there is no bad constitution, there bad people.

“A bad constitution can be work in such a way that is rename and it is able to deliver the goods to the people.

“Whenever something does not work is the people who are bad either they are inefficient or they are selfish or they are ignorant.

“I think that a bad constitution can work if people have the political will to make it work.

In his remark, Professor Umar Bugaje represented by Professor Sadiq Gombe said the problem of Nigeria are not ethnicity or tribe but incompetence, bad leadership and bad governance.

He, however,called on the Federal Government to reform the nation’s electoral process to give give room for people to fulfilled their aspiration base on fair competence and not tribal or regional conflicts.

Prof Gombe noted that “At times, we are talking about the structure of Nigeria, there is need, if there is anyone that is in need of restructuring Nigeria, some of us are more and more inclined to restructuring than any other part of this country because of many challenges.

“But the issue is, the issue with Nigeria is not just about the structure itself, is about the managers of the structure.

“Because formally we are having only Northern and Southern protectorate in 1914 that we are amalgamated to the Nigeria state and then we have three regions, Eastern region, Western region and Northern region.

“Subsequently Tafawa Balewa created the Midwestern region then Gowon created twelve states, Muritala seven more, Babangida two and Nine to thirty then Abacha to thirty-six and we are still earning for state creation.

“If we are to continue to create state, if we are going to create state base on ethnic nationalities, we have almost six hundred and forty-six ethnic Nationalities in Nigeria.

“In Taraba alone, we have close to two hundred ethnic nationality, so can we create two hundred state in Taraba and if you created One hundred then each two nationality to leave in state and one will be crying for marginalization against the the other.

“The issue with us is not the state creation but the issue with us trying to go to root cause of our problem and our bane.

“Our problem and our bane is leadership, whatever the case our bane is leadership.

“The moment we are able to get it right and elect leaders that have what it takes both character, competent, capacity and love the people at heart, I want to assure you Nigeria will be happy.

“See the Great Britain that colonizes us they have an Indian young man as a Prime Minister is one of the Greatest Country in the World today.

“Because they realized the attribute that reside in competence, capacity and so on in him, the elect him because they are in Economies crisis, so they need somebody who has Economy solutions to their crisis, so they elected him.

“But here in Nigeria, in the 21st century where knowledge is the greatest capital, we are still talking about ethnicity.

“There is No ethnic nationality among the majors that do not taste leadership, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe was the president when Tafawa Balewa was the Prime Minister, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from Yoruba became President, Goodluck Jonathan was a President from the Minority, from the South-South, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was from Gwari, Gen. Abdusalam was from Gwari, so what are we talking about.

“Is not about where government is coming from, does he have what it takes upstair?

“Does he have the Capacity, Character, Patriotism and sheer belief in the country to lead it.

“This President Bola Tinubu administration that was elected in 2023, was about the government that was elected with the least numbers of participation of Nigerians, only 8.7 million elected out of 93 million represent registered voters of which is just how many percent.

“Nigerians were in unison to say that the dictate the leadership of the APC in the last after Buhari which are view as monumental failure.

“Unfortunately majority of them voted for the opposition but unfortunately they emerges.

“It is not about ethnicity, is about bad leadership and I want the young men to shelve the issue of ethnicity, religion, tribal, regional and so on, that is not their problem but their problem lies with the bad leadership and bad governance.

“There are bad one’s among all the ethnicity and there are good one, we that are good among them should come together and try to fight the bad one.

“The better we are united as a Country because of our size, the more relevant we become in the comity of nations.

“If we allow ourselves to be separated into smaller segments, we are not going anywhere and we cannot surmount the problems.

“We will just be engulfed and be taken over into re-colonization, we have to rethink and think and leadership cannot be done by an ethnic group, there are every part that have potential they can deposit.

“Like the Igbo’s you cannot deny them, because they are the best if we are talking about enterprise and whatever.

“Now that we are having Igbo’s in enterprise, why can’t we try them because we have tried the Yoruba’s, Goodluck Jonathan has been there, we have try the Hausa’s, Kanuri’s, Fulanis is still not working.

“But it must be base on understanding, you cannot come to us to campaign because I am Igbo you must vote for me, you cannot come to me because you are Fulani and I must vote for you because we share tribe, religion what do you have on the table?

“What do you have on the table and what do you have to offer?

“Where is your manifestos, where is your code of Conduct that you want to relate to us as a Nigeria?

“Where is your qualifications?

“We have to reform our electoral process to give room for people to aspire and become what they want to be base on fair competence not the tribe we are coming from, ethnic group on come from a region, it can take us anywhere.

Earlier in his goodwill message, the convener of the program, The Chairman Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria South-West chapter, Owolabi Oladejo said that it is imperative for all the tribe and various ethnic group in the country to come together to chat a way out for Nigeria and not engage in blame games.

He averred that “You will have noticed the Peoples we have brought,Ogoni is represented there, Kaduna is there, Fulanis are there, Igbo is there and of course am a Yoruba man.

“The problem of Nigeria can only be solved by Nigerians and we need to face the reality that one we are different, two we are already together, how do we ensure that there is peace and progress in our living together.

“We cannot achieve this without communicating, without talking to each other and am very happy that we are able to do this.

“Virtually everybody that are been around, this is a great effort, so we thank God, the whole idea is this Nigeria cannot continue the way it is.

At the end of the event a decision was reached and proposed that the federal government should move in swift action to create six regions inline with the present geo-political zones and the regions must be equal to the other in status and in ranking, he said.

Those in attendance and virtually included Representatives of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Southern Kaduna Peoples Organization (SOKAPU), Afenifere, Movement for the Survival of Ogoni Peoples (MOSOP), Okpe Union, South-West Development Stakeholders Forum etc.