A nascent political movement, Rescue Nigeria, has called on agitators for separation to move beyond just making the call and carrying out demonstrations to support it, but to actually start suggesting protocols through which their desires could be achieved.
While taking a position that Nigerians will do better under a single restructured country, the group also remarked that the problem of social injustice is fuelling calls for separation.
During a hybrid event tagged ChangeMakers MeetUp held in Lagos and on the Zoom platform on Sunday, one of the leaders of the movement, Mr. Biodun Durojaiye, said restructuring the political system could address the prevailing sense of ethnic unfairness and domination.
Rescue Nigeria, which has as its motto “working together for the common good”, was formed over a year ago, and has a target of raising 10 million members who would pledge to be model citizens – put their country’s greatness above their personal greatness, reject tribalism and ethnic rivalry, commit to acting morally and with good conscience, and totally reject bad, self-centered, incompetent and corrupt leadership – before the 2023 presidential election.
Durojaiye said resistance to restructuring by ethnic groups currently benefitting from the prevalent unfairness and were dominating others was the single most important cause of political instability in Nigeria.
Arguing that agitation was somewhat justified, he however said what made the bid unappealing to many was because there were no concrete suggestions on the table on the protocol, an official procedure or system of rules, through which that could be achieved.
According to him, there needed to be suggestions on how that separation process would start – for example maybe with a referendum in the areas seeking to separate – and what followed after that and when.
The Rescue Nigeria leader warned that separatists needed to think things through before assuming that jumping out of Nigeria would solve fundamental issues, as there were indications that the same mindsets, and the unfairness and domination that had led to their bids, could still surface in their smaller nations.
He further warned that separation in a manner that would make the new emergent contiguous countries to be enemies would be counter-productive to everyone.
Durojaiye lambasted the political elite of the ethnic groups that were resisting restructuring, noting that that resistance was leading the country down the path of becoming a failed state.
He said individually and collectively, there was the need to battle the mindsets that had kept the people down, while totally rejecting bad, incompetent, self-centred and corrupt leadership.
He urged those who attended the meetup onsite and online to spread the message of Rescue Nigeria, while urging their friends, family members, neighbours, classmates and others to join.
He urged those who attended the meetup onsite and online to spread the message of Rescue Nigeria, while urging their friends, family members, neighbours, classmates and others to join by going to the website www.rescue.ng or on Facebook @rescuenigeria1, or on Telegram @rescueng
Other leaders of Rescue Nigeria also present at the hybrid event, onsite and online, were Tunde Odediran, Wale Croft, Kunle Ajose, Tomi Adeyemi and Imran Ganeey.
