Nigeria’s perilous state requires urgent remedy- Chief Anyaoku

Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth and one of Nigeria’s internationally renowned Statesmen, has said the “perilous state of the nation” requires urgent remedy.

Anyaoku who turned 89 recently said Nigeria has never been more divisive, unstable, insecure and un-progressive than what obtained in the country, warning that without restructuring into more viable, possibly six federating units as against the present 36 states and devolution of powers from the all-powerful central government to the units, the country is going nowhere.

He said his proposed restructuring would unleash the innovative and creative potential of the federating units for growth and development, stressing that the present governance structure, which is considered too expensive to run, cannot effectively deal with the country’s myriad of governance challenges.

Recall that Anyaoku in conjunction with Annan and former Nigerian Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar midwifed the famous Abuja Peace Accord signed in January 2015 by 14 presidential candidates, including the then sitting President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the opposition APC.

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That Accord, under which the presidential candidates pledged to restrain their supporters and also accept the outcome of the 26th March 2015 election, sought to prevent a recurrence of the 2011 post-election violence that led to more than 800 deaths and high political tensions in the country.

Asked if the 2023 election can be postponed until his proposed restructuring took place, Anyaoku said: “not necessarily so, but all the political parties and their candidates have to commit to it (the restructuring),” for the country to move forward, he explained.

Reminded that the ruling APC had made the same pledge, but failed to deliver on it, the Nigerian Statesman says: “it is the duty of the electorate to hold politicians and political parties to account” on their election promises.

“Nigeria is a pluralist State and you cannot manage the diversity under the present governance structure,” Anyaoku affirmed, but refused to be drawn into the raging debate over zoning of the presidency by the political parties or his choice among emerging presidential contenders.

Even so, Anyaoku agrees on the need for the continued intervention by Statesmen and women, the civil society and other stakeholders, including faith-based and opinion leaders, to address Nigeria’s deteriorating security crisis and governance deficiency.

In this regard, he said he has provided his suggestions to organisers of an initiative by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, to which Nigeria’s Nobel Literature Laureate Wole Soyinka has also been invited to join.

Since its independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has survived numerous political conflicts and upheavals, including a bloody civil war of 1967-1970 during Biafra’s unsuccessful secessionist bid by the Eastern region.

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The national crises are mainly ethnic and religious in nature, often morphing into electoral violence, mass killings and political instability.