BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – Chairman of Centrum Initiative for Development and Fundamental Rights Advocacy, Dr John Danfulani on Friday said the principle of self-determination is a universal norm and not a vice, saying that based on this understanding, the unity of Nigeria is therefore negotiable.
Dr Danfulani, who stated this a press conference in on the President’s broadcast of Monday, August 21, 2017 said President Buhari and his underground political power string pullers are pretending not to understand that the principle of self-determination is a universal norm and not a vice.
He explained that it was on the same principle that nationalists pillared the nation’s movement for self-rule that peaked with the lowering of the Union Jack on 1st October 1960, adding that it is on this same principle that IPOB are advocating for a referendum for the South Eastern Region.
Danfulani further said; “This is legal and fair game. Recently, we have seen clusters in existing nation states that clamoured for referendum and they were successfully organized: Kosovo, East Timor, Eritrea, South Sudan, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Crimea.
“Still, Catalans in Spain, Irish and Scottish in the U.K. etc are pushing for referendums. In all these instances cited, leaders of climes they seek to break away from are not treating them as criminals or labeling such advocacy treasonable.
“Thus far, IPOB (a movement government is in a hurry to tag a fraternity of felons) have conducted their activism peacefully and within the parameters of our laws and other global and regional protocols. IPOB’s strategic and tactical decisions like; sit-at-home, staging of rallies, and no-elections, and formation of cells in all the nicks and crannies of South East are quite acceptable in our law books.
“Elsewhere, these decisions falls within the bracket of civil disobedience. It’s our candid opinion that IPOB’s leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his loyal cum dedicated cadres should be commended not crucified for their measured, civil and responsible manner of advocacy despite provocations from overzealous security agencies and pro system politicians.
“Lest we forget, Sir Ahmadu Bello called Nigeria the 1914 mistake. Chief Obafemi Awolowo also said Nigeria is a mere geographic expression. These statements are a clear demonstration of the fact that we were not one and might likely not be. And since then, new issues have germinated and made anything short of a referendum a mere waste of time.
“Consequently, packing people in a country hemmed for economic exploitation, political subjugation and cultural domination without their consent is undemocratic.
“The imperialists’ action created a semi-apartheid entity that enslaved majority of Nigerians and deliberately refused to collapse the mischievous chains of slavery on the free people they made slaves through an unholy political wedlock knotted in 1914.
“We must be courageous enough to put the question before Nigerians once and for all. We have pretended far too long and the pretext must cease, right away. If we are truly indivisible and indissoluble as Buhari and his sing-along cohorts want us to believe, why are they afraid of testing their position via a referendum?
“A survey of opinion across the country shows that all Southern zones and entire Middle Belt are not satisfied with the country’s political structures. Sequel to that, narrowing dissatisfaction to our current political structures to the South East and IPOB shows the quantum of insincerity of Buhari and his men in the loop.
“We want President Muhammadu Buhari to know that threat to unleash brutality on dissidents and opposition will never make us turn-tail-run. We shall continue to enjoy our freedom to disagree with any political decision or stance under the political sun of Nigeria. Self-determination is a right, never a privilege. And we are prepared to exercise that right to its fullest.”
