Musician and social activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy has come out to say that the oneness of Nigeria is increasingly being questioned because the aspirations of the majority of citizens are not being met and the masses are finding it difficult to survive.
Some are calling for the different regions to go their separate ways but others are saying Nigeria is better as one. Which of these sides are you?
Nigeria can’t be better as one country. They say to see the end (of a thing) you look at the beginning and our beginning and our foundation are so faulty that it is really not a wonder why we have this kind of problems that we have – the injustices, the oppression, etc. In the beginning, it was by the British.
Nigeria was not just a geographical expression, it was seen as a transaction, starting with the British. Initially when they came down here, the South fought them hard but they found the people up North, especially the Fulani, quite easy to get along with.
And in the beginning, it was just the South that wanted independence; the North wanted to live their normal nomadic life but the British saw in them a people that they could easily manipulate. So, that was when they started to use them and got them into the contraption called Nigeria and aided them to do what they are doing now.
Therefore, when you have a building, for instance, and already the foundation is faulty, you can’t start talking about putting floors upon floors. It’s not going to work. If you have a marriage and the spouses don’t respect each other, the marriage will not last.
The only time Nigeria had a semblance of working and that things were seemingly okay was when we had regional autonomy and the regions contributed to the centre. But that is not the case now. Another scam is the constitution, because it was the handlers of Nigeria that helped these people to figure out that kind of constitution that does not work for everybody.
So, there is no way this union can go forward except we come to the table and talk about it and except we go back to the way we started, that is regional autonomy.
For me, I will say it has to get worse before it even starts to get better. That Nigeria will be better, I am not sure it is going to happen in anyone’s lifetime. And that is saying it as I see it. In the first place, democracy is alien to the African man; we are not that sophisticated to understand the dynamism of democracy. So, when you have people from the 19th century who are in charge in the 21st century and they are trying to use the idea of the 19th century to rule in the 21st century, the engine don knock nao, how can the country work?
It’s either we structure (or things remain the same way), but I don’t know how we want to convince them (the North) to agree, because they’ve carried on today on the wealth of the South. For a long time Nigerians have lived on corruption money.
We’ve not produced anything; all we’ve done since I can remember is to consume. In the past there was cashew, palm oil, groundnut, and so on. But since this psychology of ‘Get rich quick or die trying’ took root after the Civil War, everybody decided to face oil, which will soon go extinct. So, it’s a big trouble. (This union) is not by force; I don’t even understand it.
The wife says she is tired of the marriage, that the husband is mistreating her, should it be by force? It is either the couple talks to see how they can cope with each other, with some kind of understanding or they go their separate ways! Because if you ask me directly, I don’t see this kind of arrangement working; it can’t work!
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Of course! (I’d support) anything because this is not progressive at all. You can’t be taking me back to the barbarian times, no! This is not how a country progresses, please!
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