There is need to restructure Nigeria for equity and fairness, says Ebigwei

Dr. Sylvan Ebigwei, a chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said that the current political structure in Nigeria is skewed to benefit the political class and a few Northerners, arguing that such was no longer sustainable.

In this interview, Dr. Ebigwei who is the acting Chairman, Conflict Resolution Committee of Ohanaeze, the Apex Igbo socio-cultural group in expresses the belief that a restructured Nigeria where there would be peace, unity, equity and fairness was better for everyone.

Ebigwei who is also the Chairman of the Governing Board, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, and former President of Aka-Ikenga while speaking on the reasons for the different agitations in the country, insisted that for unity and socio-economic development of the country, the current skewed structure must be jettisoned for a more inclusive and cohesive structure that would engender equity and fairness.

His words, “First and foremost, when you talk about Biafra and restructuring, look at the structure of the country today, there is so much injustice and unfair treatment of some of the federating units.

“Many of us saw the civil war and participated too. For me, I don’t want our children or this nation to visit another civil war. We don’t want another civil war. So, what we want according to Ohanaeze today is a restructured Nigeria where there is equity and fairness. We in Ohanaeze, we don’t want separation. Our children did not seen the civil war.

“But if you look at what is happening in the nation today, there is inequality and unjust leadership. Therefore, if the leadership can adjust its style of leadership and look at the grievance of the down trodden people, we are no more talking about the Igbo nation, because it also cuts across the whole of South South and even Middle belt.

“Only few people are enjoying the largesse of democracy and a few Northerners, others are suffering, that’s the problem. So for many of us, the country has to be restructured and a new constitution that will involve we, the people adopted.

For the constitution to be acceptable to us there must be true federalism, as well as fiscal federalism, there must be devolution of power to make the federating units almost equal in power to the central government.

“The Federal Government has nothing to do with something like agriculture, transportation, education, health and the rest of them. The central government has just few roles to play so that everybody will look in their own unit as against the current structure where everybody looks at the Federal Government like the rich man in the dandy shop, where every month the states run to take their portion.

“In fiscal federalism, every federating unit controls its resources and pays adequate tax as would be agreed by us, the people. That is our position.”
Speaking further on how the South intends to achieve this, the Ohanaeze chieftain said, “From the reports in the media both in the print and electronic, you can see that we are no more saying the Igbo nation, the Afenifere, the South-south but we are now saying, the South.

“We have abolished the issue of there is Ohanaeze, there is Afenifere, there is Urhobo, there is Itsekiri, there is Ijaw, there is Efik and so forth, no, those days are gone. We are now saying, we the Southern people of Nigeria. So with this, we have achieved something and so anybody who does not believe in this is on his own, because when the North talks, they say Northern Nigeria. Now, we are talking Southern Nigeria.

“It is through unity of purpose and that unity is what we are on now. We have to get united both the youths, the agitators and everyone. So once we achieve that unity, it is one versus one.

It will no longer be a united North versus a truncated South. So we now look at each other eye ball to eye ball, if you don’t listen to me, I will not listen to you, because the dog’s play is you fall for me and I fall for you.

“We can only be wrong when we are preaching separation but here, we want Nigeria to be stronger more than ever and make it respectable in the sight of the international community. That is what we are for. It is only the primitive minded that will now be talking about division. Like I said, if you tell the Igbo to go, the whole of South will go and let’s see how the North can stand.

“Before the Amalgamation in 1914 through Lord Lugard and his brothers, we the Southerners were not consulted, where is the treaty that joined the North and the South? But we have accepted it and that acceptance was to shame those who forcefully brought us together. We are going to continue to shame them by remaining together.

“They brought us together thinking that we will begin to fight, but we shamed them. We will continue to shame them by remaining together. On the day of the amalgamation, on the 1st January, 1914, it was just in a plain field in the city of Kano, there was no Southerner there, no single Southerner; he only brought in some Emirs who held a dobar, the Emirs in the field did not even know what was happening because they did not tell them.

“They thought it was just the normal reception for the white man. It was then that Lugard proclaimed the amalgamation of the North and South. Tell me is there any treaty uniting us? So, what we are saying is since we have been together for over a hundred years now, let’s continue to patch it; but if it continues to leak, then, let’s go our separate ways.”

On whether Ohanaeze has the backing of the political class from the South, he further said, “Well, they are there, some are with us and some are not. Those who are benefiting from the skewed political mess we have in this country are the political class.

Like I said, nobody will like to jettison where he or she is making money from. You don’t slaughter the cow that gives you your daily bread, but when the masses rise in unison, they would be forced to join.”

He expressed confidence in the strategy being adopted by Ohanaeze to mobilise support. “Yes, that is what we are working on now. We have recently discovered ourselves and we must thank Ohanaeze for that.

We have just discovered the common enemy that is those dividing us. The umbilical cord is now being strengthened. You could hear the Afenifere saying that they would go should the Igbo leave the North. Now, whatever affects the Igboman, affects the whole of the South. This kind of language was not there before now,” he added.

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It is through unity of purpose and that unity is what we are on now. We have to get united both the youths, the agitators and everyone. So once we achieve that unity, it is one versus one. It will no longer be a united North versus a truncated South. So we now look at each other eye ball to eye ball, if you don’t listen to me, I will not listen to you, because the dog’s play is you fall for me and I fall for you.