It’s inhuman to say Nigeria’s unity is settled, Ango Abdullahi replies Buhari

The national chairman of Northern Nigeria Union, Professor Ango Abdullahi, on Wednesday argued that it was not sensible for anyone to claim that Nigeria’s unity has been settled.

Abdullahi, who believes that the country’s unity is not yet settled, said that there are still many challenges facing the polity which will continue to prompt questions about the unity of the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari in his Independence broadcast had berated those agitating for secession in the country, stating that the unity of Nigeria is settled and non negotiable, a stand he reiterated during his visit to the South East part of the country.

Abdullahi, argues contrary on Wednesday night at a news conference in Abuja on Northern Nigeria Union’s readiness to host the 5th Commemorative lecture in honour of late Dr. Olusola Saraki. The event is slated to hold on November 27 at the International Conference Centre.

The elder statesman at the event also said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement and adoption for a second term in office in 2019 by the North was not automatic.

He said, “Two days, I spent about 2 hours of interview with Biafra Radio of Germany and the issues have been unity, marginalization, dissatisfaction and so on and so forth.

“So based on this current debate if you want to be honest and sincere, you cannot say that Nigeria unity question has been finally settled and no more issues will be raised about it because it is not even human to say so in the sense that if you really thinking about the constitution of the country, no constitution anywhere around the world is perfect.

“Issues are being raised about constitutions of countries within themselves. Take for example, recent discourse in Britain there was the issue of referendum to determine whether Scotland wants to remain or not after 350 years.

“You can see what is happening in Spain today. You can look at very many other countries like India which started with one country, the following year; it is India and Pakistan, etc.

“Unity is not a final settled question in any country particularly a country in diversity like Nigeria. It is utopian to say that unity of Nigeria is settled because there will always be recurring questions about something wrong somewhere.

“Whenever you raise the issue of something is wrong, then you are also raising a fundamental issue of perhaps, this perfect unity people have been hoping for that needs to be revisited. So for me, personally, I think that the question of Nigerian unity should continue to be asked especially now that we have not achieved the perfection our founding fathers want us to achieve.”

On the position of the North, on endorsing Buhari for a second term in office, Abdullahi said, “Well, do not expect that the fact that Buhari is of the northern extraction will automatically translate to satisfying every aspiration, yearning of the nooks and crannies of northern Nigeria.

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“In any case, he was not elected exclusively by northerners. He was elected by all Nigerians irrespective of the number of votes he got in different parts of the country.

“The election was one to elect the President of Nigeria and this is what has happened regards of how we feel in other parts of the country. Like I told, a few days ago, I was arguing about the issue of marginalization in my interview with Biafra Radio, Germany. People should expect rewards from vote they have cast. Of course, 81 per cent of the Buhari’s votes came from the north.

“So, we should expect 81 per cent of all shares of government to come to us but that’s not being realistic. That’s not what our constitution also says. So, the president I think has done extremely well in terms of his outreach to all parts of Nigeria irrespective of the votes he got in the last election.”

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