Dear Bolaji,
Yes, the British had left about 53 years ago. Two things are pertinent here. First, the importance of identity within a particular geographical location and its dominant title on the land remains strong and unchangeable.
Southwest remains a Yoruba land from time immemorial and that is why they say "Nile karo o'jire". This refers to cultural identification with a particular area of land owned and dominated by the Yoruba.
The Yoruba will not go to any place like the north, east and south-south and call it "Ile karo o'jire. It is not there territory.
Secondly, in the United Kingdom the same tradition like the Yoruba is there till today. Scots and Irish for example are like us in their geographical locations in the UK.
Because of education and industry they accommodate others and liberalize the idea of "citizens" to a certain limit. The British constitution made it so.
Bolaji, your questions can only be answered within the provisions of the constitution. This country has no constitution that has a dominant force like the British.
The Sovereign national conference where issues you raised can be addressed and a constitution is written based on a common agreement which is bidding on all the citizens of the people will be the beginning of the solution.
What we have as our constitution is never an agreement from the majority of Nigerians. It is a "temporary constitution" and some day it will be discarded.
There is this element of arrogance that is very common among our people. For instance, as Fani Kayode noted, how can an ethnic group from the east go to Lagos and say "it is no man's land"? If the Yoruba liberally accommodate the Ibos in Lagos, which they cannot do in the east for the Yoruba, must that make the territory a "man's no land"?
Most of the Ibos got their exposure to education and politics in Lagos. Name most of the prominent Ibos who did not benefit from the kindness or the good-will of the Yoruba in their territory. Can this be said of the Yoruba living in the east? Did the Yoruba get their lead in education and industry from any other part apart from Yoruba land? Of course we mean western education from the British?
We need to get rid of that kind of mentality or arrogance because it is outrageously offensive. Bolaji, Nda nio pe' ra le ru.
Segun
Sent from my iPhone
Segun:
But the British left 53 years ago..so what have been doing for ourselves lately?
Just like a country, what does a state or local govt mean without a geography and people with certain privileges, to the exclusion of other people without those same privileges?
How can those privileges be extended to those within the borders but who are not "citizens", or what protection do non-citizens (non-residents) have? How do those others acquire inviolable residency rights - after how long?
All of these issues still have to be discussed.
Bolaji Aluko
On Sunday, August 4, 2013, Segun Ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ladies and Gentlemen,
> We tend to forget that the colonial master, Britain never wanted a united Nigeria. The country was divided into three regions on ethnic rationalization that enabled the British to optimally apply its divide and rule strategy. The nationalists were schooled in the same tradition and they were allowed to operate on ethnic and divide and rule system.
> The fact that one was born in Kano never made that person a Kano citizen. If a Yoruba person was born in Onitsha that did not qualify him to be a citizen of the place. He has no entitlement there apart from what he makes for himself.
> At independence every regional premier had his focus on the development of his region. It is morally unjustifiable for a Yoruba person to go to northern or eastern region to enjoy the development of either of the two places simply because his western region was not developed. Similarly, it is morally unjust for anyone from the north or from the east to go to the west simply because the west was best developed by its premier. One could only be tolerated in any of the regions insofar one lived according to the norms of the place.
> That was why a certificate of northern status was given to those who came from the north in those days. And I am sure other regions had a similar form of certificate for their citizens then.
> You cannot go and deface a developed area where you are only tolerated and expect the owner of the place to give you a pat on the back. In fact, the Yoruba will tell you that Nda ni o pe ara leru. That is: the person who has been accorded good treatment in the society, it is his character that will make people to know that he is a slave.
> That is the way we should understand what has happened to the so called deported Ibos from Lagos State. So the idea that ewe to pe lara ose a dose does not apply in Nigerian situation because the social structure from the past to the present does not allow it. That is why Pa Awolowo said that Nigeria is not yet a nation. The ingredients to make it a nation is not yet being purchased.
> We cannot for now be like America because our common backgrounds are not the same. If all the present geographical and political zones have almost the same impressive development in terns of economic and basic infrastructure with competitive education in humanities, sciences and technologies the oneness of Nigeria can be assured.
> Now, I think what Governor Peter Obi did can be challenged in the law court. We should allow justice to take its course without necessarily overheating the polity.
> Segun Ogungbemi.
> Sent from my iPhone
> On Aug 4, 2013, at 2:26 PM, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Otitigbe:
>
> You are right: there should be a simply-written actionable Nigerian Magna Carta - transcribed in as many Nigerian languages as possible - of rights, responsibilities and prohibitions of life, limb and property of Nigerian citizens.
>
> At present anything goes in Nigeria, and so most things happen that make one want to wonder and holler. People react based on who did what to whom, rather than without regard to circumstance. These are the people who hypocritically bleat at actions to their ethnic comaptriots, to which they are blind, deaf and dumb when it happens to others, as if their own lives are worthier than others.
>
> To say something is "un-American" is most powerful - but is there something "un-Nigerian". - except order?
>
> I would like us to agree on a few - some things that unborn babies, or children, or women, or old people, or students, or the destitute/poor, or the accused, or students, etc should NEVER have to face in Nigeria, and if they face them, that would be positively "un-Nigerian".
>
> And there you have it.
>
>
> Bolaji Aluko
>
> On Sunday, August 4, 2013, Otitigbe Obadiah Oghoerore Alegbe (The Okatakyie Otitigbe of Africa) <otitigbe@oviri.com.ar> wrote:
>> Mobolaji.
>> Your input is very correct. "The values we all must share ". Well written. It was just few hours ago that I downloaded the English Magna Carta which points to what you wrote in the case freedom for all in England. It is a pity that Fashola is a lawyer in a Commonwealth of Nations country ,how sad if he is not aware of the Magna Carta and that values we share make us a great nation. I read part of the beautiful masterpiece written 800 years ago which share a lot with our African traditions and also made me shake my head to say our ancestors were very wise in their family values. Maybe Fashola does not know the Yoruba saying "Ewe ti o ba pe lara ose, aa dose". If St Mathew Daniels, Da Silva , the Johnson that we know are of Brazilian root can claim Lagos, why not Igbo that have been there 7 generations? Senior Advocate of Nigeria, surely a title arranged for by friends.
>> Otitigbe.
>> From: Mobolaji Aluko
>> Sent: Sunday, August 04, 2013 2:20 AM
>> To: naijaintellects@googlegroups.com
>> Cc: Naija Politics ; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com ; Ra'ayi ; Yan Arewa ; OmoOdua ; ekiti ekitigroups ; USAAfrica Dialogue
>> Subject: [Naijaintellects] Re: Recovered Human Heads: Wife Of Hotelier Cries Foul
>>
>> Segun:
>>
>> Impunity ("Just do it, nothing wil happen") and Hypocrisy ("Look at what he has done, not mine") and Party-san-ship ("How can we make PDP or APC lose face maximally on this?") rule our land, whether in Fashola's internal deportation order, or Obi's reaction to it, and now Massob's reaction to Igbokwe's justification or Obi's demolition of a hotel. Reaction by/to Ngige in this silly political season waits in the wings.
>>
>> We are yet a country of peculiar ethno-geography, not a nation of shared values. Until we fully sit down to formulate and accept those values that we all must share, how we treat each other as Nigerians, and which values are inviolable one to the other, we will continue on this rickety bridge to an uncertain future.
>>
>> And there you have it...we shall see.
>>
>>
>> Bolaji Aluko
>>
>>
>> On Saturday, August 3, 2013, Segun T. Dawodu <stdawodu@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Nigeria is a jungle where everyone is lord unto himself.
>>> IG of police is now a tool for personal vendatta.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Segun
>>> On Aug 3, 2013, at 4:28 PM, Dododawa <dododawa@yahoo.com> wrot
>
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