SAN FRANCISCO, July 05, (THEWILL) – Erstwhile president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN, has condemned the call for the restructuring of Nigeria, describing the clamour as a bait being used by political elites in the country to gain power in the 2019 general elections.
While rejecting the declaration by acting President Yemi Osinbajo that Nigeria’s sovereignty was not negotiable, he justified the demand for self-determination by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, which is seeking a referendum to achieve same.
Addressing journalists at his Lagos home at Ilabere on Tuesday, the senior advocate stated that IPOB’s quest for self-determination was lawful and found justification in Article 1 (2) of the United Nations Charter and Article 20 (1) of the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights, to which Nigeria was a signatory.
He called on the Federal Government to immediately initiate a process to put the continued existence of Nigeria as a sovereign entity to a debate, stressing that restructuring was not the road map to federalism.
Agbakoba maintained that the personalities of those calling for restructuring had made it look as another political bait being used to attain power in the 2019 election, adding that the political elites were regrouping ahead of 2019 election and using restructuring as strategy.
“I see every politician now says restructure but I disagree. I also think the acting President was wrong to say that Nigeria is insoluble. There is nothing sacrosanct about Nigeria. It can blow up anytime. It’s an artificial creation, which was made in 1914 and when it was amalgamated we were not there. It was amalgamated in the interest of the colonialists,” he said.
He regretted that since 1914 when amalgamation was thrust on the people, there had not been any home-grown process to resolve the will of the people to co-exist.
The prominent lawyer, who had once sued the Federal Government for neglecting the South-East, argued that the Federal Government goofed by charging the IPOB leader with treasonable felony for seeking self-determination.
He said, “For me, the best that he can be charged with is unlawful assembly and an act capable of breaching public peace. Those are the things he can be charged with, but not treason; because Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations’ Charter, which recognises the right for self-determination.”
When asked whether he aligned with IPOB’s call for a referendum towards self-determination, Agbakoba responded thus, “Absolutely! What is sacrosanct about Nigeria? Nothing. What is sacrosanct about Nigeria is our agreement to be part of Nigeria. I’m not suggesting that Nigeria should not exist but to say that Nigeria’s sovereignty is not negotiable, nobody should talk about it.”
