Despite Drums of War, Nigeria will Not Break up, Says Okupe

Jonathan Eze

A former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, wednesday stated that Nigeria would not break up despite the recent drums of war or the rumours of coup attempt.

He noted that even in the face of heightened agitations by different ethnic groups to secede, Nigeria would still remain an indivisible entity.

According to Okupe, “Yes, again and again, there are drums of war, rumours of coups and heightened cries for separation. Yet, Nigeria will not break. I repeat as God liveth, Nigeria is not about to break up.
“Those who rely on what is seen physically and those who are not too knowledgeable about life may want to hold this assertion in derision.

Yet there is more than meets the eye in matters that control the affairs of nations and men.”

The former presidential aide acknowledged that although the ingredients required to justify a dismemberment of the nation as an entity abound, like “inequality, injustice, nepotism, corruption, deception, sectional neglect and lack of inclusivity, mutual distrust among others, but fortunately or unfortunately it is not in the manifest destiny of this great nation to disintegrate.

“To anyone who is discerning, it has been crystal clear that God has shown His guiding hand in the affairs of Nigeria since the June 12 debacle. God does not act in vain but for a purpose. It will be preposterous to assume that the purpose of God’s intervention in the affairs of Nigeria in the past 25 years is to lead us to a break up.

“In truth, the Nigerian experiment or marriage is grossly imperfect and obviously not working. The Nigerian union presents some of the outstanding features of a dysfunctional marriage.

“There is sustained anger, mutual contempt and distrust, lack of openness and poor communication among its component parts.”
On the health condition of President Muhammadu Buhari, Okupe noted that it is a source of concern to all, but submitted that the North is more apprehensive in view of the previous experience with late President Yar’Adua.

“But they are not willing to discuss this openly. Official handling of the situation suggests sectional protectionism rather than presenting a national problem seeking a national solution. After all, this is a president loved and voted for by nearly fanatical nationwide followers. Why should his adversity be borne and protected only by a section or just a few disciples?

“On the other side are those, mainly southerners, who gloat over the president’s health challenges and cannot wait for power to be handed over to the vice president and for the latter to actually assume the full status of the president almost immediately. They rely exclusively on the provisions of the Nigerian constitution, totally ignoring the main and the central abiding political philosophy of power sharing in Nigeria.

“Obviously, there are serious and genuine fears across the divide. But as typical of a dysfunctional union, nobody is ready or willing to discuss these fears openly or even within leadership caucuses.

“What we then get are heightened calls and counter calls for breakup of the country, calls for restructuring and official rumours of coups.”

Okupe therefore urged Nigerians to be united and have an abiding faith in the unity of the nation. “There is an urgent need to develop a national platform from which we can nurture the emergence of an elite political consensus from where we can always look at our problems as national problems and bring about unified national solutions. Then and only can our nation be on its ultimate journey to its divine destiny of greatness.”