TheCable

John Gbor, a retired major-general, says the British did not intend to make Nigeria a nation so they deliberately created a structure that makes the country ungovernable.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Abuja, Gbor said after 60 years of independence, the country is increasingly more divided than ever before.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) 2019 presidential candidate said citizens show more allegiance to their geo-political zone than to the country.

“Thirty-two years after amalgamation, they (the British) did nothing to bring the Hausa and the Fulani together, they did nothing to bring the Igbo and the Yoruba together,” he said.

“The British made Nigeria ungovernable, there is nothing anyone can do. President Buhari can’t do anything until we remove those things the British put there.

“After sixty years of independence Nigeria is yet to meet the national expectations and aspirations of its teeming citizens.

“Nigerians are increasingly more divided than ever before. People are locked down in their ethnicity and geo-political divides. The supposedly Nigerian citizens speak openly in defence of their ethnic group and the geo-political divides of north, east and west.

“Sometimes issues of religion are considered more important than our common identity as members of one nation.”

Proffering a solution, the retired general said the country needs a new constitution and a revisit of the British “contrivance” of Nigeria.

“Having pledged our loyalty to the nation, we will then go back to the drawing board, revisit the British contrivance of Nigeria, untie the wires and remove the knots that hinder our successful take off,” he said.

“Write ‘we the people’s Constitution,’ not as Yorubas, Igbos, Kanuris, Hausas, Fulanis, Nupe’s, Ibibio, Anang, Ekwere, Tiv etc; or as Easterners, Northerners, and Westerners; or as Muslims or Christians but as Nigerians.

“The realistic unity of Nigerians is the only option left to us as a nation. Unity will bring understanding between and among us.”