We are Ready for
break-up, North will Survive if
Nigeria Breaks – Prof Ango
Abdullah
12.Nov.2016
Following
the growing calls for the
convoking a Sovereign National
Conference to decide the future
of Nigeria, a prominent Northern
elder and chieftain of the Arewa
Elders Forum (AEF), Prof. Ango
Abdullahi has said that the
region would survive if the
country splits even today.
Abdullahi, a former adviser to
ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo
on Food Security, while speaking
on the Hausa service of the
British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) monitored in Kaduna hinged
the survival of the region on
agriculture.
He said the North had no problem
with transforming the fertile
land at its disposals, saying
that over the years, the region
had built most of its factories,
textile mills with agricultural
proceeds.
He argued that once Northerners
go back to the farm like their
fore-fathers, they could survive
any situation including a
divided country even as he
lamented the state of insecurity
in the country, and reiterated
AEF resolve to work towards the
continued existence of the
nation.
He noted that the North without
oil could stand on its own if
the country eventually breaks
up, saying that the North had
always been on its own. The land
is still there and the water.
Our forefathers built all the
factories, the textiles, the oil
mills in Kano, all were built
from agricultural proceeds.
Therefore if we returned to what
we have, God has given us
fertile land, we won't lack what
to do and we will surely stand
on our own no matter the
situation this country finds
itself, he said.
We know this is an old call, its
been long for over 20 years, and
they have been saying this
corporate existence of the
country, that the Federal system
is faulty. They are keen in
sitting down to discuss what
kind of arrangement would be
conducive for Nigerians. This is
an old call and it is not a new
thing, some people are hiding
under the guise of this
agitation to show that they are
tired of staying in a united
Nigeria.
Therefore, we have resolved that
we are not going to be the cause
of Nigeria breaking up but if
others decided that the country
should be divided, and they
insisted that Nigeria should
break up, we won't say no
because we realized there is
nothing we are getting in the
current arrangement that other
sections of the country are not
getting .If they insisted, why
don't we sit down and talk? If
at the end everybody agree that
Nigeria should be divided, if at
the long run, everybody is
satisfied that the country
should break up, let it be.
He (the poor) feeds himself from
what he cultivates in the farms
and feeds Nigeria up till
tomorrow. It is possible if all
Northerners would return to what
their forefathers did through
agriculture with which proceeds
they built the North and Nigeria
as a whole
