REFERENDUM AND RESTRUCTURING

With the state of affairs in Nigeria, it is obvious that people have become confused about how best to sustain the country. So many people have come up with the idea of RESTRUCTURING, but have never had a concrete backup towards actualizing same. In 1967, the leader of the people of the old Eastern Region, Col. Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, reached for the Aburi Accord, which was  a call for restructuring, which the Nigerian government rejected and fought against. In the present situation of the nation, those who still rejected and aborted that idea of the Aburi Accord are now clamouring for same. But how can it work? That is the question begging for answer. 

Referendum, it has become obvious, is required for Nigerians to decide their fate, and it takes their own reflective psyche to understand the needed solution to these existential problems. Referendum is all it takes to resolve these problems facing Nigeria, since RESTRUCTURING has always been fought by those who see it as a threat to the hold they exert on this nation. Sadly,  this has been the seemingly intractable problem since the time of Odumegwu Ojukwu. Referendum simply means a socio-political configuration where  all the people of a country are asked to vote on an important issue, namely to remain or to exit. It has become imperative  on Nigerians to reconsider their unity in the interest of peace and progress. 

A call for restructuring in Nigeria can never be a solution to our teething problems. Different members and ethnic groups have been, in time past, forcefully brought together to live as one people - our discordant values, culture, and worldviews notwithstanding . People with different cultures, traditions and religions were  forced to remain as one, which ended up being a serious disservice to them. Due to the pressure from the colonialists, they had no other option than to live and exist as one people against their wish.  In 1914, the British people came to this part of the world, known as Nigeria, and forcibly united the people of Nri, Arewa, and Oduduwa Kingdoms and decided that they all should coexist. The so-called unity was forced on the various peoples of Nigeria. 

The call for referendum should not be seen as one for war,  since the process is going to be peaceful and devoid of rancour and acrimony. If the present Nigerian government were reasonable enough, they would expedite action in taking care of the needed modalities for referendum to engender peaceful dissembling of Nigeria.  This should be done as a matter of urgency so that the bickering, malice, and subtle Cold War between regions can be nipped in the bud. Nigeria's problem can be solved by referendum,  not restructuring.

- Chukwudi Prince Okeze

  Abia Central writers