By Pwanagba Agabus, Jos
Ahead of the 2023 general elections an aspirant under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State, Chief Garba Pwul (SAN), said the challenges Nigeria is facing today is a necessary path towards achieving nationhood.
He also said other nations of the world that achieved greatness have passed through similar challenges.
The legal luminary turned politician,
equally said Nigeria is not yet a nation due to the way the colonists brought together the various ethnic nationalities.
Pwul stated this while speaking with journalists in Jos, the Plateau State Capital,
He said, “History has shown that before any nation achieves nationhood, it went into virtually most of these crises at different stages.
“In Europe, we had the dark ages, you had the medieval period, then you had the industrial revolution, and so on. So sometimes you have civilization going backward into the dark ages. It appears to me that Nigeria is going through those transformation periods. Ghana had a revolution through Jerry Rawlings.
According to him, “Before we become a nation we have to face these challenges and surmount them. I said before we become a nation, because it is a big question whether Nigeria is a nation or not. Yes, we are a country, a geographical expression of different parts and ethnic groups coming together to form a country. But a nation is one single entity with one expression where every citizen is seen as equal and a brother.
“So, in Nigeria there are Igbos that when you ask them, they would say I am an Igbo man first before, a Nigerian. There are Yorubas, Angas, Mwaghavul, Berom, Taroh. If you ask them they would say same as the Igbo man. And so, if we are seen at that rudimentary level, then we are not yet a nation.
“In a nation, you would sacrifice everything and anything to protect that nation. In America, it is America first. It has always been there; it did not start with Trump. There is nothing that an American cannot sacrifice for the survival of America as a nation.
” Sadly, in Nigeria, there is nothing that Nigerians can’t sacrifice for their interest even if it means killing the country,” Pwul decried.
He however, blamed the British for the challenges Nigeria is facing and that their goal was to exploit Nigeria economically and not “to put up a nation that was united and growing strong”.
Pwul maintained that, the colonialists brought the various regions together by “forced colonial decision”, which gave rise to mutual suspicion.
“The north suspected the south, even the Igbos suspected the Yorubas, the Yoruba suspected the Igbo and so on. So we came together as competitors, as rivals and the spirit of rivalry has not been destroyed and that is why today, the Presidency must come to the north. Now the presidency must go to the east, now the Presidency must go back to the west.
“Now, the minorities in the north; we don’t have a chance. Nobody is talking about the most competent, the most sagacious and productive President. Whether the East has the best, as long as the President is coming from the East, the North must resist it, the Yoruba must agitate against it and so we have come together as people put in a boxing ring. If you are in a boxing ring, what is your mission, to win the match against your opponent. And so in that situation, there is no patriotism beyond our ethnic groups and geographical locations,” he explained.
Pwul therefore gave solutions to the challenges of nationhood, saying Nigerians needed patriotism and a change of attitude in order to foster nationhood since all ethnic nationalities have similar histories.
“So we need that patriotism that would make us a nation so that if something affects Gyang, then Nanjul should feel for him. If something affects Abubakar, then Okonkwo should feel for him. If something affects Adewale, then Iorhem should feel for him. But we have not reached that level. Of course different groups must come together. You must have similar experiences that you want to overcome. You must have similar struggles that you have passed through. You must have similar aspirations. You must have love for one another. We would have to take deliberate actions at all levels,” he stressed.
