Mixed reactions trail social media following the agitations by Biafra and Oodua nation activists. These groups feel they have been marginalised and seceding from Nigeria would be the real deal. While some people are clamouring for secession, others are of the notion that restructuring Nigeria would be the real deal.
The call for secession by these agitators is one call the Nigerian Government isn’t willing to listen to as she considers anyone calling for disintegration a threat to national security. The Nigerian government had made it clear that it would do everything humanly possible to see that the nation remains united.
While surfing through the internet, I discovered that Nnamdi Azikiwe played a vital role in ensuring that Nigeria is where it is today. On May 12, 1953, at a time when Northern Nigerians were considering secession from the Nigerian colony that would soon become a nation, Nnamdi Azikiwe delivered a speech before the caucus of his political party, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), in Yaba, Nigeria.
Nnamdi Azikiwe made it clear that if the Northern region became an independent nation, there would be serious consequences. He went on to say that his party would love Nigeria to remain as one. He schooled them on the importance of staying united and his speech didn’t fall on deaf ears. He made these Northern leaders weigh the benefits and drawbacks of secession before embarking on this perilous path.
As someone who was born in the North, I have a strong spiritual attachment to that region of the country, but separating the North from the South would be a huge political mistake. Nnamdi Azikiwe had revealed how he was almost assassinated because he demanded Nigeria’s independence.
The latter is in a better position to make rapid constitutional progress so that if the North were to be severed from the South, it would benefit both Southerners and Northerners who are domiciled in the South more than their Northern kin. Nigerians need to be grateful to Nnamdi Azikiwe for keeping the nation united.
The speech made by Nnamdi Azikiwe is a lesson to all clamouring for secession. Going separate ways isn’t the real deal, we all need each other to survive. Let’s come together irrespective of our ethnic differences, identify the problems, eradicate them and build a nation where peace and justice reign.
