SPEECH DELIVERED BY MAJ. GEN. JOHN W. T. GBOR (RTD), APGA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
2019, TO A DELEGATION OF MEMBERS OF OODUA YOUTH PARLIAMENT AT THE OCCASION OF
THE AWARD OF THE MAYEGUN OF OODUA YOUTH AT THE JOHN GBOR FOUNDATION OFFICE, ON
30TH APRIL 2021.
First of all I want to welcome you, members of Oodua Youth
Parliament to the office of John Gbor Foundation here in Abuja. I feel highly
honored by the presence of this powerful delegation representing the Youths of
Oodua Parliament.
On behalf of my family and all my well wishers throughout the
length and breath of Nigeria, I want to express my profound appreciation to
Oodua Youth Parliament for considering me worthy of this very important award as
THE MAYEGUN OF OODUA YOUTH.
The Mayegun is an upright or conscientious person
who makes things right to ensure peaceful co-existence for all. I want all the
Odua Youths to know that I am highly delighted to have been awarded THE MAYEGUN
OF OODUA YOUTH.
The fact that I am not from a South-Western State and yet, I
have been singled out from the North-Central by these very intelligent Nigerian
youths for the award of Peace among the Oodua Youths is, particularly, very
significant to me and I believe, to all my well wishers.
I am excited about this award and I wish that all my fellow Nigerians hear about it. Once again, I want
to thank you from the bottom of heart for this outstanding award. THE OODUA
YOUTHS HAVE DEMONSTRATED A SENSE OF UNITY Very significantly, this action of
Oodua Youth Parliament is a clear demonstration of their concern for the unity
of Nigeria.
To have travelled all the way from the South-West to give an
outstanding award to an individual of North-Central origin in Abuja, is a
sacrifice for both the unity and the future of our dear country, Nigeria. The
Oodua Youth Parliament believed in the unity of Nigeria at the time when many
frustrated and disillusioned citizens are advocating the disintegration of the
country.
The fact that the Oodua Youth Parliament are here to give me an award
as a Peace maker is a clear indication that our Youths, the Nigerian Youths
believe in the unity of Nigeria as a solid, and one indivisible nation.
APPEAL FOR NATIONAL UNITY
As the Youths who are in the vanguard of national unity, I
appeal to you to join GENERAL JOHN GBOR FOUNDATION in partnership with Patriotic
Action Nigeria to work for the unity of our dear country Nigeria. Gen John Gbor
Foundation is for Hunger Eradication, Youth Development and Women Empowerment.
We work in Partnership with Patriotic Action Nigeria (PAN) as a project of the
John Gbor Foundation for the unity, safety and prosperity of Nigeria.
Today,Nigeria is badly divided in the midst of an unprecedented high level of
insecurity. The youths are the link between the present and future generations.
We cannot afford to fail you and neither should you fail yourselves, for your
failure means the failure of Nigeria our dear nation.
In order to succeed, all
Nigerian youths should not see themselves as belonging exclusively to their
ethnic group but, inclusively, belonging to Nigeria. In other words, in order
for Nigeria to succeed, our youths, the Nigerian youths should not see
themselves in terms of ethnicity as Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ibibio, Fulani, Kanuri,
Nupe, Tiv etc, but must see themselves as Nigerian youths.
I want to encourage
the Oodua Youth Parliament to use their experience to establish Nigerian Youth
Parliament as this will go a long way to, forever, cement the unity of Nigeria.
In the History of the development of our nation, the Nigerian youths had always
played a prominent role.
The British conquered and administered the territory
they called Nigeria, but the Nigerian educated youths of the 1920s, 1930s and
the 1940s were responsible for the existence of Nigeria as one nation even
against the wish of the British.
In the 1920s the educated Nigerian youths
demanded for Nigerian nation. The British colonial government opposed. Sir Hugh
Clifford, the Governor of Nigeria made it clear that Nigeria will never be made
a nation. He warned that the idea of the Nigerian nation is a no go area. The
youths who formed the first nucleus of Nigerian nationalism continued their
demand for the Nigerian nation.
In 1944 the Nigerian youths of Kings College
Lagos invited all Nigerian ethnic groups to Lagos. On 26th August 1944 some 101
different ethnic groups across Nigeria converged in Glover Hall. They agreed
that the whole country should form one solid political block and one solid
economic block.
On that day they unanimously formed the National Council of
Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC). Herbert Macaulay was elected the Chairman and Dr.
Nnamdi Azikiwe was elected the Secretary. The Party was to seek for the rights
and wellbeing of Nigerians.
THE BRITISH INTRODUCED REGIONS TO TRUNCATE NIGERIAN
NATIONALISM
In the 1940s when it became clear that the spirit of Nigerian
nationalism was unstoppable, they implored the services of a British Colonial
Governor in Jamaica, Sir Arthur Richards, to Nigeria. Sir Arthur Richards was an
expert in handling nationalists in the British colonial empire. Sir Arthur
Richards wrote a Constitution which divided Nigeria into Western Region, Eastern
Region, and Northern Region.
The Nigerian nationalists who were unanimous in
fighting for Nigerian nationalism began to fight for Western, Eastern and
Northern nationalism respectively. We hardly had anyone seriously fighting for
Nigerian nationalism. Sir Arthur Richards literally dampened the spirit of
Nigerian nationalism.
The fight for Regional Nationalism instead of Nigerian
Nationalism has dangerously, now metamorphosed into the Ohannaze which fights
for the East; Afenifri which fights for the West; and Arewa Consultative Forum
which fights for the North. None of these regional organization fights for
Nigeria.
As long as there is no one fighting for Nigeria, no one should expect
security in our homes or on our highways. Similarly, no one is to expect
economic prosperity for the wellbeing of all the citizens. Our youths and women
will continue to suffer until we give up ethnicity, geo-political divides of
North and South and we all will join hands to fight collectively the challenges
of Nigeria, our nation.
The nation is waiting to reclaim its citizens from the
North, the East and the West so that once more it can have sons and daughters
who are just Nigerians. Given the human nature which at best is evil, the
security of any human society does not come as an accident. If we want security,
we must relentlessly plan and work for it.
Those who violate the laws must
necessarily be corrected. Neither does the prosperity of any given society come
by accident. A nation that desires prosperity must work for it and in the
process must observe all the necessary regulations. A society whose individuals
turn aggressively as scavengers on its monetary and natural resources as we do
in Nigeria is, definitely, doomed to fail.
Nigerian security and economic
development are on the downward trend because we are operating a nation where
everyone is for himself and there is hardly anyone for the nation. If we plant
corruption we should expect to harvest the evil we have planted. But if, on the
other hand, as sincere and honest citizens, we plant honesty and truth, then we
should expect to harvest the fruits of the goodness we have planted.
The survival of any nation is based on the principle of sustainable development. If
we must survive and succeed, we must imbibe the culture of sustainability. The
security and economic prosperity of a community do not come to them by accident.
We, the Nigerian people, must therefore, plan deliberately for the safety and
economic wellbeing of our youths, our women, and our physically challenged
citizens.
The youths, the women, the physically challenged and all Nigerians,
will never fair well until we give up our dangerously entrenched ethnicity,
regionalism or the geo-political divides, and begin to face the challenges of
our people. We must plan definitely for the people’s security and the economic
prosperity for all citizens.
We must give up our undue attachment to ethnicity
and become, just Nigerians as Americans are just Americans, Canadians are just
Canadians and Chinese are just Chinese. We must allow our youths, our women and
all our citizens to function collectively as just Nigerians. Once again, I thank
you, the members of Oodua Youth Parliament, for the honor. I am looking forward
to more opportunities for mutual interactions with you.
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