By Ochereome Nnanna During the celebration of Nigeria’s 53rd independence anniversary, Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, remarked about what he called “distortion” of Nigeria’s history, which I found interesting. He said he did not see the point in celebrating Nigeria’s centenary. Here are his words according to media reports: “For me, Nigeria was born as an independent sovereign nation on the first of October, 1960. Perhaps, she was conceived in 1914, but as we race towards (the first 100 years) it is important not to distort history. I would seek better understanding, better explanation by those who are behind the centenary celebration because if we rolled out the drums three years ago to celebrate 50 years of Nigeria’s nationhood, Independence we fought for, people went to jail for, what then is this centenary suddenly about? “I don’t remember as a child ever coming out at amalgamation day and suddenly, how did we get to 100?” Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State acknowledges cheers, during the 53rd Independence day anniversary, at Police College Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Akeem Salau. I can make out two points of disputation here by the learned Senior Advocate. Number one: As Nigeria never celebrated Amalgamation Day, Fashola does not see the point in celebrating 100 years of the Amalgamation. Number two: He does not seem to agree that the years before our independence can count as part of our nationhood, since Nigeria was still under colonial domination. I will start by observing that His Excellency, BR Fashola, is merely engaging in undue rhetoric on this matter. I am not too surprised, though, that he has bones to pick with the centenary celebration idea, which is basically a brainchild of the Federal Government. This is not the first time that Fashola’s political group, which is now the main body of the All Progressives Congress, APC, will be distancing itself from such Federal Government initiative. We will recall how that school of political thought disagreed with May 29 as the Democracy Day. That day has absolutely no bearing on our struggle to regain civilian rule from the military. Instead, it was on June 12 (1993) that Nigerians, for the first time in history, overcame their primordial divides and voted for Chief Moshood Abiola, in spite of his Muslim/Muslim ticket. Fashola’s party, which is an offshoot of the June 12 struggle, settled for that date as the genuine Democracy Day, while the Federal Government forced the rest of the nation to mark it on May 29. There should be no need to question whether Nigeria will be 100 years by January 2014. Nigeria was conceived and born on January 1, 1914. It was from that day that its inhabitants started being known as “Nigerians”. Yes, it was under the imperial rule of the British Crown, the parent nation. Everything that happened from that day till date is part and parcel of the history of Nigeria. That we did not celebrate Amalgamation Day under the British did not take anything from the fact that Nigeria started existing as a political entity from the day it was amalgamated. I believe that Nigerians should celebrate the centenary of her history. We should mark that day, but without much pomp and colour. Rather, we should mark it with sobriety and determination to turn a new leaf in the second century. We should see the centenary as a milestone upon which to fashion out a new, better, happier, more equitable, workable and progressive nation to bequeath to ourselves and future generations. We of today must seize the moment and package a better Nigeria to hand over to our children. Luckily, we now have the opportunity of a national conference. Let us not fluff it. Let us spend more time, energy and resources to ensure that this conference spawns a second century Nigeria we can all be proud of than wallowing in uncalled-for celebration of failure, tears and woe. Let us also not treat the moment as if it never existed. Nigeria’s first100 years of bitter history can never be wished away, but we can fashion a second 100 years of surge, accomplishments and victory.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:09:44 +0000
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