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Is it Possible to Rebuild Nigeria? By Zents Kunle Sowunmi In one of the famous statements from President Barak Obama of United States of America as presidential candidate was the issue on race in which he titled “towards a perfect union” which is available on youtube.com and the speech has since been ranked among the greatest like that of Martin Luther King “I have a dream “But Barak Obama on race will be the one that is applicable to Nigeria at this very period. This writer, few weeks ago, visited Philadelphia the city where America independence and constitution was negotiated and signed. In the city of Philly, was also the Liberty Bell which has since been a tourist attraction which several thousands of people lined up to see and at the end of the visit it dawned on this writer that it was only a white man’s history forced on a nation which made the speech of Barak Obama unique and a need for Nigeria to borrow from the expectations of the 45 minutes epistle which has since been viewed by over 7 million people to date. Barak Obama mentioned, how the constitution at the time of incubation did not totally addressed issue of hopes and anxiety of the colored people and minority or that of women or the religion of the people, it how ever, left perfectioning the document i.e. the written constitution to the coming generation in form of amendments which were later carried out, including, the civil war under President Abraham Lincoln, which eventually, paved way for freedom of slaves from the strong grips of Southern States which the Bible, did not address. There is no where in the Bible, where slavery was condemned, in fact the southern states were hiding under the Bible commandment to keep slaves as lucrative business because the Holy book says “Slaves obey your master” later in American history President LB Johnson (LBJ) from Texas who succeeded JFK Kennedy signed the law that gave the rights to African Americans to participate in US political arena the effect of the law led to the death of Democrat as a political party in Southern states and actual deaths of many including Martin Luther King and Kennedy brothers and events that paved way for Obama’s presidency which he said in one of his statements “I ride on the shoulders of Giants” Nigeria at the time of incubation from Herbert Macaulay groups in Lagos which later included Awolowo, Azikwe, Saudana of Sokoto Balewa and other medieval generations of Nigeria state agitators did not address the issue of minority, hopes of children, religion, and social security for all. It was only based on the need to preserve the hopes and control of North based on needs of Hausa/Fulani which was a continuation of Sokoto Caliphate hegemony, in the West, among the Yoruba’s it was to protect the relics of the collapsed Oyo Empire and myth of Oduduwa and in the East, a region always in search of it origin, either as a lost tribe of Israel or as a destroyed tribe of Igbo chased out of Ile Ife when Moremi was used to penetrate the myth of Igbo nation today, unlike other tribes in Nigeria, no one can say, where this vibrant and selfish tribe actually came from, however it spreads from Asaba in Delta State across Niger river into the heartland of Imo River. Nigeria first constitutional attempt, from various white men name like Macpherson to Rotimi Constitution of 1979, with only “49 wise men” because Awolowo declined to participate under Rotimi which also failed to address the social responsibility of protecting and advancing the hopes of women, children, minority as well as the goals of Nigeria within the comity of nations, instead, it continued with the status quo of protecting the control of North, East and West over the nation with over 250 tribes thereby left undone hopes of other minorities as betrayed by all the constitutions to date. Nigeria present constitution, written by the military under General Abubakar, the last military Head of State is a relics of the past, and a continuation of the same oligarchy and feudal system, which keeps most progressives minds under bondage and ones a progressive mind is able to cross the line of Rubicon he is forced to joined the train of keeping others in chain, if possible removing the ladders for others hence, it has always been difficult to have Leaders or Presidents that will take the nation across the river of progress and remain focus without moving back. The above, could be attributed to the failure of the twice lucky former President Aremu Obasanjo and his failure to sign into laws most progressive ideas from the last congress or parliament, like the freedom of information Act, dissolution of the Federal Police system for State and City police, complete removal of funny looking traditional leaders like Obas, Obis and Emirs which their upper and lower body dress code does not even conforms to the need 21st century, which to this writer ought to have been replaced with Mayors in each city of the nations. Obas, Emirs and Obis are nothing but blood line of feudal control. The last administration under Aremu OBJ, had all it needed to cross the line of Rubicon of progressive minds but it failed because it was not intellectually equipped to see beyond the tip of its nose, no wonder its leadership was still in search of the missing link in his academic deficiency after he left office just like General Yakubu Gowon the Nigeria leader between 1967 to 1975 did after he was kicked out of office. Can we say academic qualification is a panacea for successful leadership in a nation still in search of its identity? The answer is No and Yes. No, because failure and truth are not automatic. When the Commodore Lawal a Naval officer with Masters in Business Administration became the governor of Ogun State when IBB was Military President, Ogun state recorded the worst “shoplifting” in history of governance, he was even so petty with it that he stole rugs, carpets and conspired to steal and reduced the dual carriage road to a singled way at Idi Aba Abeokuta. When the people of Kwara State elected him as a governor later in the civilian government I said to myself “Kwara state Bless your hearts” Yes, it is better to have an educated and focus leadership than to have a President with unprogressive minds to champion the hopes of millions in the 21st Century, the rightful place of Nigeria must not be left in the hands of criminals, nor the hopes and future of our children with a congress without any result after 2 years in office, the present parliament, House or Congress is lazy, corrupt and lacked focus, this presidency like the congress or House is lazy, weak, and probably too sick to see the injury it’s weakness or shortcoming is afflicting on the nation. The Constitution of Nigeria is also very weak in its foundation and goals and it will be difficult to get neither a good president out of it nor a progressive nation. Lord Dennings the Chief Justice of Great Britain once said, “You can not put something on Nothing” also Justice Marshall of United States of America ones said “Illegality can not stand the test of time” Nigeria constitution is fraud it does not represent the wishes of the people, it was designed to suppress the hopes of the minority and maintenance of the status quo. To re-build Nigeria , the constitution must be amended quickly by all, not by few chosen men by the same forces keeping the country behind, the new constitution must eliminate the Obas, Emirs and Obis from the face of governance, it must remove religion in any form from government and once in government leaders must not be address as chief or Alhaji in any form, the new constitution must dissolve and decentralize Nigeria Police with only EFCC at federal level , create State and city police which will replace all the activities of area boys or OPC or Egbesu boys, create social security system of administration, pay workers per hours or as needed or per diem, let each state or city grow according to its resources, freedom of information laws must be included to open all secrecy of governance. Lastly, The council of state membership must be abolished in the constitution because the presidency must be freed from any past leadership which presently subjects his authority to verifications by past and corrupt leaders, Let us enshrine in the constitution a country operating on two party system only with room for Independent candidate , if we must we must rebuild this nation, but if not we may go the way the Austria and Hungary did during the unification of German 39 States during the time of Otto Von Bismarck, move out of the Union and see more of the bombing of oil wells, and gas locations all over the Niger/Delta maybe we can open our eyes to the fraud of the leadership and fake constitution that is keeping us from achieving our potentialities. “Nigeria Bless your Hearts” Zents Kunle Sowunmi New York USA Author “Before the Journey Became Home”
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