Nigeria: If you want Regionalism or Partition or Separation it is via Transitioning for Constitutional Reconstruction.
Those who have migrated abroad did so to flee Nigeria: its violence, its insecurity, its growing and deepening poverty, its deep unstoppable corruption, its disabling environment, its hostility to sustaining anything good. In short, Nigerians have fled their country because of the effects of the neocolonial 1999 Constitution, a fraud and forgery foisted upon them.
What next? Some say that Nigeria remaining one unit is still possible, they are the ones who talk about Regionalism. Others want Partition with the core northern Arewa Bloc as a separate country. Some others want Separation, so about four new countries to come out of Nigeria. It is good to want these things, but HOW do they get done? Otherwise it is just like the fantasy conversations that little children have among themselves. Working out HOW desires become reality is an adult work, and that is the stage Nigerians should be at now since things are deteriorating daily. Nigeria’s core problem is STRUCTURAL caused by the 1999 Constitution which needs to be thrown out wholesale then the Union Renegotiated, Reconfigured and Reconstructed. Let us describe each option mentioned above very briefly before going to the HOW it gets achieved.
REGIONALISM is where Nigeria would remain as one unit but as either a Federation or a Confederation. The difference between the two is in the amount of Self-Determination (Autonomy) that would be present, a Confederation being an arrangement with more Self-Determination than a Federation.
PARTITION is where the core northern Arewa Bloc would no longer be part of the Union. This process can be said to have started in year 2000 when the twelve contiguous core northern States unilaterally took up Sharia contravening the conditions set in the 1950s for there to be a Union. Their taking up Sharia is in exercise of their inalienable right of Self-Determination, and has been interpreted as them seceding from the Nigeria Union. Therefore, Arewa Bloc is by their Sharia leaning towards the option of the Partition of Nigeria into two separate countries. The non-Sharia portion (aka the NINAS Alliance Territory) would then decide whether it wants a Federal or Confederal arrangement.
SEPARATION is where indigenous Ethnic Nations would meet and discuss and group themselves together in formations (Blocs) of their choosing. If they want, these Blocs would then become independent Successor Countries that would decide whether they want a federal or confederal arrangement.
The HOW to get it done: whether Regionalism or Partition or Separation.
Discipline to look at the Facts and then APPLY them is a requirement in either devising a Strategy, OR in keying into and actioning a rational and just Strategy when it is already on the Table.
1.The indigenous Ethnic Nations have Sovereignty over their ancestral spaces so it is a non-sense to recognise Military imposed “States” or even “Geopolitical Zones”. In correcting Nigeria’s dysfunctional constitutional arrangement Nigerians should grasp the fact that Sovereignty matters, and Sovereignty is the ultimate authority that decides what happens, and Sovereignty resides with, ie belongs to indigenous Ethnic Nations. Sovereignty does not belong to “States” or “Zones” or to any politician or group of them, whether as the Cabinet, Senate, House of Representatives, State Assemblies, etc. To repeat: Sovereignty resides with indigenous Ethnic Nations over their ancestral space.
Related Posts
2.Since the neocolonial and fraudulent 1999 Constitution that creates and codifies Unitary Nigeria (One-Nigeria) is a Forgery, it is a Dummy foisted upon Nigerians, a reasonable person will understand that a Forgery cannot create a Union: so there is in fact NO UNION.
3.Nigerians are fleeing the Nigeria codified by the neocolonial 1999 Constitution, and the miseries and existential threats that Nigerians face flow from it. Does it therefore make sense to keep on going to round after round of National Elections that renew the life of that False Instrument (1999 Constitution) when the winner swears an Oath of Office to uphold, defend, and govern by it? Rather, that Dummy 1999 Constitution is to be Decommissioned, and new constitutional arrangements obtained the proper way. That is, by those having Sovereignty ie the indigenous Ethnic Nations meeting to discuss and negotiate what they want. It is from these stage-by-stage discussions and the use of Self-Determination Referendums (not controlled by INEC!), that the peoples will decide whether they want Regionalism or Partition or Separation, and what they want such to look like. These discussions and negotiations take place during a time-bound period of Transitioning just like South Africa did to start correcting their appalling Apartheid constitutional order foisted upon indigenous Black peoples by White immigrants.
4.Sovereignty is with the indigenous peoples so they have a Right to insist that further National Elections be cancelled until after Transitioning is done. That means all political parties are NOT TO PREPARE for 2027 National Elections but are to Close Shop. Nigerians should Demand to instead have immediate Transitioning right now in 2025. There would be no power vacuum because existing governance structures would remain in place in transitional capacity. The NINAS Transitioning Template has been on the Table since 16 December 2020 declaration of Constitutional Force Majeure. By now Nigerians would have been enjoying a fresh new start in security and with real hope based on what they can see, if they had had the discipline to examine the Notice of Constitutional Force Majeure and carry out its orderly Strategy Action of suspending National Elections for Transitioning. Much of the lives and livelihoods lost since then would not have happened because the NINAS Transitioning Template stops and contains the Fulani militia and Islamic terrorists, plus it ensures an environment of productivity not disability.
To conclude, whether Nigerians want Regionalism or Partition or independent Successor Countries, that 1999 Constitution is in their way because it hijacks Ethnic Sovereignty and Self-Determination, preventing Nigerians from controlling their ancestral spaces, thus allowing hostile and destructive neocolonial forces to be in charge. The political class are the Willing Tools who sustain the 1999 Constitution for the reward of riches-for-life and personal armed security. Their goal is to keep on dragging Nigerians to National Elections so as to continue renewing the life of the 1999 Constitution. So, until it is Taken Down, all wailing about Nigeria or desires for Regionalism or Partition or Separation are empty child-like talk (no other way to describe it) unless HOW to achieve it is put into adult action.
Note: The link to the Notice of Declaration of the Constitutional Force Majeure (published in The Guardian Nigeria newspaper) mentioned above is here:https://guardian.ng/features/notice-of-constitutional-grievances-declaration-of-constitutional-force-majeure-and-demand-for-transitioning-process-for-an-orderly-reconfiguration-of-the-constitutional-basis-of-the-federation/
Ndidi Uwechue is a British citizen with Igbo heritage from the Lower Niger Bloc. She is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, she is a signatory to the Constitutional Force Majeure, and she writes from Abuja.
