From Godwin Tsa, Abuja.
A group of clerics under the umbrella of Igbo Ministers Commission, has insisted that the self-determination bid by the detained Biafra agitator, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is a fallout of the failure of the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by the British government.
The clerics contended that Nigeria’s creation in 1914 was not a union born out of mutual consent but a colonial construct imposed by Britain for administrative and economic convenience.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja the clerics, however, called on Nigerians to come together in a peaceful and inclusive dialogue to define the country they want so as to safeguard the future.
The statement signed by Rev. Tony Uzo Anthony, president general and Apostle Tony Osi, secretary general, canvassed that a new Nigeria be advanced in a fresh dialogue must be one grounded in mutual respect for diversity and shared humanity.
“The agitation for self-determination, as championed by Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu through IPOB, underscores a fundamental truth, which is that Nigeria’s creation in 1914 was not a union born out of mutual consent but a colonial construct imposed by Britain for administrative and economic convenience.
“Lord Frederick Lugard’s amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates disregarded the profound ethnic, religious and socio-cultural differences between these regions, forging an artificial nation that has struggled for cohesion ever since.
“The North, rooted in feudalism and indirect rule, and the South, shaped by Western education and urbanisation, were set on divergent paths that entrenched suspicion and inequality.
“Post-independence, rather than bridging these divides, Nigeria’s political elite exploited ethnicity, widening the fractures in our federation.
“The result has been persistent discord, undermining the promise of unity.
“We call for Nigerians to come together in a peaceful, inclusive dialogue to define the country they want, one grounded in mutual respect for our diversity and shared humanity.
“Only through such a process can we address the flaws of our foundation and build a nation or nations that truly reflects the aspirations of all its peoples.
“This is the irrefutable truth and pretending otherwise is only postponing the doomsday,” the statement said.