Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah, has declared that political alienation and exclusionary politics being practised in Nigeria are responsible for the various agitations and crises in the country.
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He also identified ethnicity and lack of respect for the rule of law as some of the impediments to the practice of democracy and true federalism in Nigeria.
Kukah who spoke at the third Annual Memorial Public Lecture with the theme: “Convergence and coalescence of federalists as imperative for the survival of the Nigerian state” organised by the Niger Delta University (NDU), in collaboration with the state’s Founding Fathers Forum in honour of Dr. Ayebakepreye Amba Ambaiowei at the University’s auditorium in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state, stated that Nigeria political leaders have to imbibe political inclusion and disregard discrimination for the country to move forward. He described ethnicity, religion, and other primordial sentiments as not only potent threats to the practice of true federalism but also as sources of unhealthy rivalry.
Bishop Kukah, however, urged Nigerians not to despair but be hopeful and work for a better future, stating that the provision of critical infrastructure across the country would promote interconnectivity, unity, and the overall well-being of the citizens.
“The question that we must address is, what is peculiar about our own kind of democracy? Because there is something peculiar. We have not succeeded yet in managing to erase the corrosive edges of ethnicity.
“Ethnicity remains a very potent weapon, and when it remains a source of identity and justification, and religion and other forms of identity, the country will remain a largely volatile state full of children who are often comparing what they have because they will always compare themselves and realise that others are doing better than them.”
Bayelsa governor, Senator Douye Diri, represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, argued that Nigeria has not practiced effective federalism right from its independence in 1960.
He stressed that until stakeholders of Nigeria agree on the system of government to operate that caters to the interests of all subnational units and have respect for the rule of law, democracy would continue to be a mirage.
Senator Diri, who paid glowing tribute to the late Dr. Amba Ambaiowei and other founding fathers of the state, noted that without the creation of Bayelsa, the state would not have recorded the significant milestones it had achieved in all spheres of development.
Chairman of the occasion and one-time deputy governor of Rivers State, Dr Gabriel Toby, described Dr. Ambaiowei as a minority rights advocate and nation builder who played a major pioneering role leading to the creation of Bayelsa State.
In his goodwill message, the immediate past deputy governor and Chairman of Bayelsa Elders Council, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (retd), said the creation of Bayelsa State with just eight local governments should be regarded as an eternal humiliation considering the enormous economic contributions to the national coffers.
Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACiarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
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Explore Nigeria’s Constitutional System — 17 Chapters, 924 Pages Of Insight By Prof. Hagler Sunny Okorie
