TheCable

Anthony Sani, a former secretary general of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), says Nigeria can’t break up on the basis of ethnicity. 

Responding to comments of some southern leaders that a breakup is possible if the country is not restructured, Sani said the 1999 constitution has undergone a series of amendments at different times, adding that the 9th national assembly is on the process of amending the same constitution.

He tackled the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum for challenging the 1999 constitution which they claimed was put together in favour of the north.

“I have heard the hyperbole by some people who say the country may break up if the current constitution is not replaced by people’s constitution that contains restructured Nigeria,” Sani said in an interview with The Sun.

“And they say this in blithe disregard for the fact of history that 1999 constitution is a clone of that of 1979 that was sired democratically by an elected constituent assembly.

“What is more, the 1999 constitution has undergone amendments by each of the National Assembly. In fact, the 9th National Assembly is on the process of amending the constitution.

“On this issue of the forecast that Nigeria will break up if the country is not restructured, please note this is not the first time we are hearing such threats. 

“America once predicted the country would fail by 2015, a forecast that never came onto its own. Earlier Col. Gaddafi had suggested the country be split along religious or ethnic lines. But there are so many families with members who are of different faiths, while there are over 250 ethnic groups. It is not possible for families to be of different countries on the basis of differences in faith, and this country cannot split on the basis of ethnicity.

“That is why some of us are sanguine that relative pluralism that comes with urbanization and interethnic marriages will soon supplant the sense of cloistered communities with strong historical ties to places. But society is dynamic and given the fact that this country has been restructured several times, be it geopolitical, form of government and economic model; and the fact that the term restructuring of Nigeria means different things to different groups as well as the fact that we practise multiparty democracy which allows political parties to represent distinct methods of addressing national challenges as reflected in the party manifesto which the political parties use and canvass for electoral mandate needed for execution, let the political parties which want to restructure the country include their own version of restructuring in their manifesto. That way, the campaigns will enlighten Nigerians to understand what the political parties mean by their own version of restructuring for informed judgement during elections.

“That is how multiparty democracy works. It is not for any unelected groups of individuals who profess to be jaunty face of democratic values to try to force their preferences on the rest of the country undemocratically.

“Since the the southern and middle belt groups have been honest enough to admit that the 1999 constitution is a whole sale adoption of that of 1979 constitution, it is fair for them to let Nigerians know how that of 1999 constitution was produced.

“And given the democratic processes that sired the 1979 constitution that is akin to how the American constitution was produced, it is morally preposterous of anybody or group to assert that the 1999 constitution was put together by the military in favour of the North.

“If the opponents of the 1999 constitution have facts in support of any position that it is not a clone of that of 1979 that was democratically produced, let them lay bare for Nigerians to see. And if they have reasons in support of any amendments of the 1999 constitution, they are at liberty to canvass for such amendments in the National Assembly.”