Igbos Should Be Allowed To Discuss Seccession At National Conference..Prof Nwabueze

 

Revered Constitutional Lawyer and elder statesman Prof. Ben Nwabueze kicked yesterday against the exclusion of the discussion on the country’s unity by the national conference.

He said the Igbo will insist on self-determination at the conference.

The octogenarian, who insists that the conference should write a new constitution for the country, said President Goodluck Jonathan had no right to decide Nigeria’s existence.

Speaking at the Conference of Ethnic Nationalities organised in Abuja by the Ethnic Nationalities Movement (ENM), he said: “Nigerians should have the right to self-determination.

“Now we have a conference that says that the divisibility of Nigeria is a no-go area. Does that mean that we cannot even talk about the inherent right of the ethnic nationalities to secede, we have no right to self-determination; is that what it means?”

The theme of the conference was: “Towards a truly representative National Conference.

Describing the right to self-determination as an inherent right of the citizenry, Nwabueze said his own nationality – the Igbo – had already resolved to insist on the inclusion of the subject as part of the agenda for the forthcoming national conference.

Nwabueze, who is the first academic Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), however, called on Hausa, Yoruba, Edo, Itsekiri and other ethnic groups to insist on their right to self-determination.

The jurist said: “If we can’t even discuss it, that excludes the right of the delegates to talk about self-determination. This is a burning issue. We, the Ndigbo, have already decided to insist that that right of self-determination must be there.

“I use this opportunity to invite other ethnic nationalities – the Yoruba, the Hausa, the Edo people, the Itekiri, the Ijaws the representatives of the Ijaw are already demanding it. We must all come together to discuss it.”

He noted that the fear that the discussion could culminate in the country’s disintegration should not stop the delegates from exercising their right to discussing self-determination.

Nwabueze explained that the representation of ethnic nationalities in the constitution would help to contain the government from oppressing others to create a state of instability.

He recalled that as the adviser to the drafting of the Ethiopia 1995 constitution, he insisted that ethnic nationalities should be included.

The legal luminary urged Nigeria to borrow a leaf from that.

Nwabueze, who noted that some critics had held the opinion that the United States and Europe no longer discuss ethnicity and tribe, asked whether those countries and continents had tribes in the first place.

According to him, all the ethnic groups in Nigeria predate the amalgamation of the country and their importance must not be trivialised.

He also expressed surprise that various religious organisations, trade unions and interest groups were considered for the conference while the nationalities that own them are left out.