The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has declared that the state of emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan on three states in the northeast region of the country is a temporary solution that falls short of action that should finally put the country on the path of progress.
The group in a statement by its publicity secretary, Kunle Famoriyo, maintained that the insurgency in the northern part of Nigeria is a “deep manifestation of the crises of nationhood bedeviling the country, which we have continually refused to fully address.”
The Yoruba socio-cultural group noted that every part of this country is seething in anger for one reason or the other, adding that Yoruba people feel insecure within Nigeria.
The group stated: “The Yoruba people, for instance, do not only feel insecure within Nigeria. We do not feel that Nigeria, as it is presently structured, can allow the component nationalities and groups to find full expression for their different aspirations. We, the Yoruba are concerned and miffed that the present structure of the country is a pernicious hindrance to our developmental destination. We are constantly being constrained to move at the developmental pace envisioned since the advent of self-rule in the 1950s, therefore to project to a great future for our unborn generation is fast becoming a mirage.”
The group urged the President not to rely on emergency rule or militia action in any part of the country as a means to achieving peace.
“It may bring some temporary succour, but it cannot guarantee long-lasting peace and security. His administration should desist from wasting the resources of the people of this country, but rather expend those resources on lasting peace, rather than this parochial focus on security.”
National State of Emergency
The group warned that “the present situation in Nigeria is a watershed, and it presents an opportunity to seek a lasting resolution to how we want to live and co-exist as a country of distinct nationalities, interests and priorities, within this beleaguered contraption called Nigeria.”
Reaffirming its lifelong commitment and call for a sovereign national conference, the group called the President to “immediately declare a State of National Emergency, and proceed to the National Assembly with an executive bill, with a view to preparing the grounds for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, which would bring all the peoples… of Nigeria together at a round-table to dialogue on the future of the country.”
