…Says People’s Right To Determine Their Future Non-Negotiable
By Matthew Don
Professor Wole Soyinka has said the unity of Nigeria can be negotiated. He said on Friday, July 14 in Yenogoa, the capital of Bayelsa State the unity of Nigeria as a nation is one that must be debated in order to address lingering echoes of marginalization.
Soyinka said: “The claim that the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable is a false statement. The right of the people to determine their future is what is non-negotiable.”
The Nobel laureate’s comments was in Bayelsa to join Governor Seriake Dickson to commission a new high school in Kaiama, Bayelsa State, jaw National Academy.
Dickson built the school to boost the intellectual resources of the Ijaw nation and it has the capacity to accommodate about to 1,000 students at the junior and senior secondary levels.
“Don’t tell me that Nigeria, as it is, is non-negotiable,” Soyinka said, describing it as “fallacy.”
Some politicians and top government officials, including Acting President Yemi Osinbajo have recently said that Nigeria’s structure is not defective contrary to what advocates of restructuring hold, and that its unity is not negotiable.
“Our unity is not negotiable. We should make sure that we remain united in order to enjoy the resources God has blessed Nigeria with. So many nations envy what we have as a nation,” Osinbajo said while receiving Muslim leaders in the State House June 25.
However Soyinka thinks otherwise saying: “Negotiation involves ensuring that there’s no marginalisation. Negotiation involves ensuring that the major components of the country are not feeding on the centre.”