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By Oluseye Ojo
Human rights activist and lawyer, Mr. Femi Aborishade, has said in spite of the escalating prices of food items and rising cost of living in Nigeria, democracy is still a better option than military rule.
He gave the assertion at the launching of a book, ‘Victor Banjo: A Revolutionary Betrayed’, written by an historian, Chief Niyi Aborishade, at Otunba Subomi Hall, University of Ibadan.
Banjo was in military detention in Enugu when the 1967 civil war broke out in Nigeria. He was detained by the regime of Aguiyi-Ironsi over allegation of coup. He was invited by the then leader of Biafra, Odimegwu Ojukwu to join him, with Banjo forming the 101 Brigade of the Biafran Army.
Said he: “Military dictatorship should not be allowed under any guise. It is better we should come together to protest and make our demands. Whatever we are passing through in Nigeria today can be fixed under democratic governance. We don’t support coup under whatever guise.
“But if we allow politicians to continue to misrule Nigeria, it is not impossible that sooner or later, particularly with the trend of military coup in the West African sub region, some undemocratic forces may again use the popular agitations of agony, economic degradation, poverty to stage a comeback.
“Therefore, we have to call on the Federal Government and all the state governments in Nigeria to step up and reverse all the economic hardship they have inflicted on the people. It is the renewed hardship that they called renewed hope.”
Daughter of Victor Banjo, Prof Olayinka Omigbodun, who is the first female Professor of Psychiatry in Nigeria, hammered the need for restructuring of Nigeria into regional lines, so that each region could develop at its own pace.
“This nation needs restructuring, reorganisation, rearrangement. Let us reorganise this nation such that there will be competition among the regions… So, there should be a restructuring, whereby every region will determine how it wants to live, and what it wants to do with its resources.”
The author of the book, Chief Niyi Aborishade, said: “There is no way that we shall tell the story of Nigeria that we will not talk about Col Victor Banjo, on the role he played in the history of Nigeria. This is someone that has been cheated out by the powers that be, because of his sincerity and the love that he has for his country.”
