Call For Separation Will Take Its Toll On The Development Of Nigeria – Aregbesola

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has come out to say that the call for separation by some ethnic groups is an ill-wind that will not favour anyone.

He recently revealed this at his investiture as grand patron by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, South-West zone and conferment of the award of excellence in leadership which held at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan.

According to him, these calls for separation are nothing but expensive, and they only have the potential to end up being very disruptive for Nigeria.

Rauf added that he is not speaking as a Minister, or speaking on behalf of the Federal Government, and he just believes that the division would take a great toll on the development of the country.

His words, “Besides, those who take the precipitate action of resorting to armed conflict often plunged their land and people to ruin from which there may not be an exit option.”

“Nations are often locked in civil wars of mutually assured destruction in which peradventure one side wins, the victory will turn to ashes because the cost of victory is the loss of everything that was fought for.”

“Wars can also be so devastating that when it ends, the people are set back by not less than a hundred years. Worse still, as it is well established in the revolutionary literature, revolution often consume her own children. Those who engineered popular uprising may be consumed by it.”

“From all studies I am familiar with, welding together a heterogenous people with disparate cultural and historical background is a long and tortuous process that can suffer colossal reversal at any time, irrespective of the progress already made, if the actors are not careful.”

“Even in prosperous and seemingly stable Europe there has been sustained separatist agitation in France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Cyprus, Finland, Denmark, Azerbaijan, Lithuania and virtually all over the continent. In spite of the failed referendum for the independence of Scotland, the call for separation from Britain has not abated.”

“It is therefore anathema for me to accept ethnicity as a basis for the development of space and people. It is a fact of history that every division fostered by sectionalism will not stop until the irreducible minimum division is reached.”

“The best way to go is to do away with the mindset currently at play that Nigeria is a lie and therefore must be balkanized. We are truly a diverse nation. But the strength in our diversity is immeasurable if only we would unite in its recognition.”