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Aftermath of Kaduna Riots...

This Day (Lagos)
NEWS
December 6, 2002
Posted to the web December 6, 2002
Lagos
Adesanya Canvasses Regional Autonomy
Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Senator Abraham
Adesanya, yesterday reviewed the events surrounding last month's riots in
Kaduna which claimed over 200 lives and property worth millions of naira and
concluded that part of the solution necessary to douse tension in the country
is to grant regional autonomy to the various zones.
Adesanya who spoke at the public presentation of the book Bulletin From the
Land of the Living Ghosts written by Professor Adebayo Williams said "there is
urgent need for regional autonomy so that each region would be at liberty to
pursue those objectives that are dear to it without federal let or hindrance."
He expressed that while the nation could live with the abnormality of
recruiting soldiers from different nationalities and keeping them under the
same military formation, governed by uniform regulation, the same approach
would not work in the attempt to keep different nationalities together under a
unitary system.
Such a plan, he said, will not allow for unity and progress.
Adesanya said the recent mayhem in Kaduna, Bauchi and Abuja over the hosting of
the Miss World Beauty contest and the publication by THISDAY which some Muslims
considered offensive, was not only a political action but a reflection of other
unresolved questions in the country.
The Second Republic Senator, said only simpletons would accept the carnage in
the three cities as a religious affair.
"That a secular show and a comment in a secular newspaper could lead to that
level of carnage and mind-boggling blood letting by Northern Moslems against
Christians is a reflection of other unresolved questions," said the Yoruba
leader.
He maintained that the mayhem in the cities was a warning to the apostles of
unitarism that time was running out.
"I must say that Nigerians must sit down at a national conference to redefine
the rules of the engagement," he said.
The author of the book being presented, Professor Williams, also declared that
the true enemies of Nigeria were those opposed to the convocation of national
conference to re-examine the terms of relationship between the cohabiting
nationalities.
Adebayo, who admitted that he had Nigeria and other post-colonial African
countries in mind while writing the book as observed by the reviewer, the
Managing Director of the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc., Dr. Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo,
also admitted that Nigeria was in a crisis situation.
But Adebayo was however, confident that Nigeria's problem was not an
irredeemable situation so long as we agree to come together to re-examine the
relationship.
Williams said Nigerians should be allowed to freely discuss the future of the
country. According to him, the country is already a failed state in need of
dire rejuvenation and that if no forum is provided for the discussion of the
polity, then "there is nothing bad if the union is thrown into the trash can."
The newspaper columnist said the nation was witnessing a sleeping "economic
misery and criminalisation of the Nigerian political class all of which are
showing classic definitions of a failed state."
He further said: "Today, we have statesmen in a collapsed state and
nationalists in a receding nation."
The nation's major headache, he continued, stemmed from the fact that an ethnic
nationality believed it could force its own values and ways of life down the
throats of others, a reality he said had been expressed by the many crises that
had bedeviled the polity.
The highlights of the occasion was when the Ogun State governor, Segun Osoba,
recommended the author, Williams for a senatorial seat in Osun State as a way
of bringing him back to the country.
The governor had bought N2.5 milion copies of the book for all secondary
schools in Ogun State.
Over N5 million was realised at the launch. Williams said that he would use the
proceed to mass produce the local edition of the book so that average Nigerians
would have the opportunity of reliving the horrors of military dictatorship in
the country.
Among others present on the occasion were: Chief Great Ogboru, the Managing
Director The Guardian, Mr. Eluem Emeka Izere, Mr. Bayo Onanuga of (The News)
magazine, Mr. Dare Babarinsa of (Tell) magazine, Mr. Kayode Soyinka, publiser,
(African Today) magazine, and Mr. Wale Babalakin (SAN).
Others include; wife of the author who is also a professor, Mrs. Williams and
Lagos State Information and Strategy Commissioner, Mr. Dele Alake.
Reviewing the book, Adinoyi Ojo contended that the work was a reflection of the
dilemma of the average conscientious African writer torn between the world of
fiction and true life story when he lives in a world that is stranger than
fiction.
Adinoyi Ojo, who recommended the book for anyone hungry for knowledge, about
post colonial African countries, hailed the book as a masterpiece of work
written by one of the nation's gifted writers.

   

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