The political architecture of Nigeria has neither been comfortable nor acceptable to the South, relative to the North. This is bcos it tended to give the North some political advantages relative to the South. It is thus an ageless agenda of the South to diffuse these advantages, especially the seeming monolithic block cohesion, by all means necessary. The idea of the 'Middle Belt' region was arguably in that context.
Thus each govt in the country had often been pressured with the idea of a National Constitutional Conference, and nearly all had had to convoke some form of it. All such calls were/are from the South, quite understandably. These calls reached a crescendo in the Jonathan era when he succumbed to the pressure, in cohort with the 'MiddleBelt' Alliance, in setting up a National Conference. That Conference seems to enjoy a popular acclaim in the South and parts of the 'Middle Belt', and had since the exit of the Jonathan era, been elevated into a reference choice of/for its ardent proponents. This is bcos of its deliberately skewed representation structure that was iniquity personified, using the advantage of a Jonathan Presidency to force the obvious scheme down the North's throat, so to speak, in the attempt to weaken the cohesion, unity and disposition of the North in relation to the seeming 'united agenda' of the South. The North vehemently protested the glaring iniquities, but to no avail. And the Conference proceeded inspite of the North's objection and protestations. How can a democratic exercise of such nature where representation is critical be done without respect for and reflection of the demographic realities:
•The delegates from the South were more in nmbr than those from the North.!!
•There was very scanty/negligible muslim representatives in the South members.
•In the North's representatives, there was a deliberate ploy where the Xtian members were more than the muslims in nmbrs.!!
It is this skewed representation structure that eventually produced the National Conference 2014 Report. But this stands compromised ab initio for its lack of transparent equity, fairness and justice.
Nonetheless, when Jonathan's 'hidden agenda' for a Six Year tenure, like that of Obasanjo's Third Term agenda before him, failed inspite of Jerry Gana & his foot soldiers, the report was abandoned too, like a bad habit.
The exercise itself was, for all intents and purposes, a congregation of anti-Northern sentiments, but sugarcoated as a bait to lure the 'Middle Belt' into a veiled war against the 'common enemy', the Hausa-Fulani.
Thus the 2014 Report had much of the agenda buried therein. That was why during Buhari's regime the agenda was amplified in the opposition rallying anthem of 'Islamisation'. And the 2014 Report assumed a rather sacrosanct standard reference aspiration for the coalition of the anti-Northern sentimentalism, in their apparently erroneous assumptions that the North was/is afraid of National Conference & Restructuring. To them the 2014 Report is rather sacrosanct, inspite of its patently unjust iniquities.
Buhari couldn't be bothered with the strident calls for another conference, perhaps bcos all those in the past were only insincere conduits for the tenure elongation agenda of the respective incumbents. Instead the optional route of going through the NASS became a more realistic attraction, even though the proponents of Restructuring vehemently opposed it, in dogged preference for a Sovereign National Conference.
With the advent of the Tinubu era, that group seemed to have used the golden opportunity to re-strategise and adapt to the NASS route in achieving its objectives and agenda. They purposely created a rather mafia-like infrastructure and gangsteric style in the leadership of the NASS with which to stampede their way through the legislative battlefield. The strategy is now manifestly obvious. It is to actualise the implementation of the 2014 Report, inspite of its deficits in equity, fairness and justice, through a piecemeal presentation approach of the provisions of the Report, and a speedy passage into law, and prompt implementation, to avoid any 'unnecessary' collateral ambushes, so to speak. This seems probably intended as an insurance against presenting the 2014 Report document as a whole, thus exposing it to the possibility of 'throwing away the baby with the bathwater' as happened with the rather infamously rogue 3rd Term misadventure of Obasanjo. Perhaps the piecemeal presentation strategy has an inherent insurance in that regard. Time will surely tell indeed..
The current scenario in the polity gives very serious credence to this strong suspicion, and now already an unfolding apparent reality. Suddenly:
•The old National Anthem of "Nigeria We Hail Thee", suddenly replaced the hitherto current one, "Arise O Compatriots", in a lightning rush of the Bill in a record legislative endorsement and enactment into law, and an equal speed in its prompt implementation by Tinubu.
•The State Police issue is all but endorsed and in the pipeline, as it is being finetuned by govt Committee(s) etc.
•The Bill for a Single 6 year tenure for office of President is already being debated in the NASS.
•The Bill to the NASS for the return to Regional Governance structure is credibly said to be imminent too..etc.
•The South West Governor's Forum met few days ago and ratified the new SW Regional Anthem in apparent readiness and vanguardship of the imminent eventuality..etc.
It is crystal clear that the 2014 Report is being implemented by open subterfuge, inspite of anything.
This political drama playing out, would indeed amount to a monumental betrayal of the Northern 'mandate and interests' by Tinubu and his agenda. The North created a President in Tinubu, not the Lagos that couldn't save his paper invincibility and political honour, relative to the Obidattic upsurge/upstage in his fiefdom. The North hardly takes kindly to such betrayal of its political IOU, inspite of its seeming orchestrated sentimental disunity. Goodluck Jonathan, and Obasanjo, could attest to the peril of this political ingratitude. The inherent blackmail in the unfolding virtual reality of Regionalism, notwithstanding.
These kinds of circumstances have, in the past, often awoken the 'Arewa spirit of the North', as the realisation of the 'Day After' often rekindled its fraternal spirit and unites it in a shared feeling of common destiny, relative to the South. Our political history severally attests to that, as Jonathan and Obasanjo ought to know too well.
It seems Tinubu and his agenda have purposefully and deliberately stepped on the ArewaTiger tail, in an open declaration of a latent political war in the legislative battlefield of the NASS. The Arewa anger and 'Spirit of the North' often have a way of turning seeming defeat into manifest victory. Don't mind the rather dangerous erroneous belief in the delusional assumption that the Spirit of the North is completely weak and impotent. The contrary could often be politically fatal. Both Jonathan's 2nd Term and Obasanjo's 3rd Term before it, are beneficiaries of such Northern benevolence. Thus, the Tinubu agenda being smuggled and deployed through the 2014 Jonathan Report onto the NASS battlefield, must suffer the 3rd Term fate, as amended. The possible amendment being a cherrypick exercise that only throws away the bathwater alone without the baby. But throwing it away with the Tinubu Area Boys of the NASS in order to "keep Nigeria one is a task that MUST be done"🇳🇬🕵🏼
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Nigeria We Fail Thee..🤕🤧
@matuchiori
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