At the very inception, the name Nigeria was meant solely for the northern side today. Lady Shaw had suggested it as against earlier names like southern Sudan which she said would give a false impression that the place was near Sudan or near the Nile. The name was to loosely mean Niger area as distinct from the Lagos and southern protectorates headquartered in calabar. The main reason for amalgamation was so the grains of the north could find a sea route. This is also why the original rail tracks followed the routes from farming and market hubs in the north straight to ports in the south. This is why power was given to the north and the reason they feel a lot of entitlement towards power. Shortly after the first coup, there was jubilation all over the country including the north until it dawned on the north that power was no more in their hands. Recall that they even went to Nwafor Orizu to ask him to give power to a name they put forward. Nwafor orizu handed power Aguiyi Ironsi. The pogroms started and we had a civil war. One northern head after another and then it landed mistakenly in the laps of Obasanjo. He had an express instruction to hand the power back to the north. That is how a grade 2 teacher who was just warming up to represent his village in the house of reps, became president. One northerner after another, and finally a true reformer in the person of Babangida came to power. Everything was done well and transition was like never before seen, until he was told he could not hand power to a Yoruba man. He ran out of office. One northerner after another and again Obasanjo came again to power with the same instructions to hand over power to the north. He played the script but fate played a rude joke. In comes Jonathan after several months of an impasse as it was not scripted for this to happen. After the impasse, with the inevitability of Jonathans presidency, he was made to agree for power to go again back to the north. The fact that this gentleman agreement is not being respected will be the greatest progress my nation will make in nationhood.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:07:28 +0000
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