Fayemi: Unity Can’t Endure Where Injustice, Marginalisation, Inequity Thrive

•Military better managed Nigeria’s diversity, says Jega

•Sultan identifies new challenges with Nigeria

Chuks Okocha and
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday, at the National Summit on Unity, said harmony could not endure, where inequity, marginalisation and injustice thrive.

Fayemi was special guest at the National Summit on Unity organised by the National Prosperity Movement with the theme “Nigeria: The Imperative of Unity”, where a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, also berated civilian administrations in the management of Nigeria’s unity in diversity and claimed that the military did better.

In the same vein, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammad Saad Abubakar, who equally spoke at the occasion, said most of the problems confronting Nigeria, especially, the threat to her unity could be traced to the inability of the the leaders to effectively deploy the country’s diversity for development.

However, in his key note address Fayemi said, “To be sure, unity cannot endure where injustice, exclusion, inequity and marginalisation are embedded in the practice of governance. That is why as leaders, we must pay attention at all times to ensure that as we work to deliver on our mandate, fairness and equity are made our watchwords at all times. Our commitment to these values must not simply be minimalist – doing only the barest minimum required of us by the constitution – or token – just for the sake of playing to the gallery – or even rhetorical – through the paying of lip service.

“Our commitment must be robust, consistent, and demonstrable so that citizens have absolutely no doubt about the important place they occupy in our policy and political priorities. As leaders, we must not only embody the ideals of national unity, but also be seen to be their active torch bearers at all times. This way, we build popular trust in our actions and erase doubts about our intentions,” he explained.

Fayemi noted that, “In the face of some of our recent challenges, I have often shuddered at the spectacle, whereby some among us, who have been entrusted with leadership responsibility very easily slide into the role of ethno-regional champions, xenophobes, and zealots.

“While it is normal that leaders must have their ears to the ground and feel the pulse of the people, who have elected them – imbibing, reproducing, and spilling out raw and crude bile and pushing scorched earth solutions, crosses the line of representation to become an exercise in the shirking of responsibility.

“Unlike the bulk of their followers, leaders are positioned and privileged to know that in matters of nation and state-building, the world is far more complex than the simple and many atimes, simplistic binary divisions that are frequently deployed to oppose black and white.”

The Ekiti governor, therefore, said, “Leaders must truly lead by using the broader, more complex, and better nuanced understanding they have to help moderate and modulate seasons of deep division in the polity, rather than becoming the ones, who add fuel to a raging fire.”

In his key note address, Jega said, “The attention paid to the question of national unity and integration by successive military regimes has not been matched by successive civilian administrations.

“Except for sloganeering in the Third Republic, when Shehu Shagari as NPN’s presidential candidate, and subsequently as president, popularised the slogan of “One Nation, One Destiny”, subsequent civilian administrations, especially, since 1999 seemed to have, more or less, presided over the undermining if not destruction of the bases and foundations of national unity and integration in Nigeria.

“To be sure, national unity can only be predicated on mutual trust and understanding, reciprocal friendly/brotherly/sisterly relations, as well as shared interests, values and aspirations. National unity would only best be promoted through tolerance and accommodation of each other’s differences, opinions, ethnic, religious and communal or even regional identities.

“At the core of national unity are non-discriminatory relations whether at the personal or official levels. The sad thing in that in contemporary Nigeria, all these are in dire short supply.”

Jega lamented that, currently, the major threats to national unity, as well as national security could be summarised as follows: “Negative mobilisation of ethno-religious and other primordial identities, especially in contestations for power in electoral politics .

“Hate speeches targeted at perceived ‘others’ in an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ categorisations and reckless peddling of misinformation and fake news to demonise perceived opponents. Giving primacy to ‘indigenes’ over ‘citizenship’ rights in state and local governance and dangerous if not genocidal narratives emanating from perennial farmer-herder conflicts,” he said.

The Sultan, Abubakar, represented by the Emir of Keffi, who called on the federal government to find ways to manage the various diversity in the Nigeria’s unity insisted that most of the problems confronting Nigeria could be traced to the inability of the the leaders to manage her diversity.

He said national unity was one of the most effective prevention of internal conflicts that could drain the resources of the nation and derail its progress, adding that Nigeria’s unity had been called to question in recent times with threats of disintegration.

“Diversity is therefore a fortune and like most fortunes, they need to be guarded and managed very well to realise the benefits. Rather than complain about our diversity, we should strive to master the skills of the management of this diversity. Some of the problems for which we blame our diversity are actually problems arising from our failure to manage that diversity,” he said.

Chairman of the occasion, Major General Ibrahim Haruna, lamented that despite the various styles and tactics from 1999, corruption, insecurity and intolerance were still inherent in the system.