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Falana Faults Buhari’s Praise On Britain For Nigeria’s Unification

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Renowned Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence Day speech which showered praises on the British for ‘unification’ of the nation.

Naija News recalls that President Buhari in his Independence Day speech delivered on October 1 to mark the 61st anniversary of the country’s freedom, said, “For 1st of October 1960 to happen, all hands were on deck. East, West, North all came together to celebrate freedom. Today should not only serve as a reminder of the day the British handed over the reins of power to Nigerians, but also unified Nigerians from all ethnic groups, religions and regions.”

This paragraph of the President’s speech is, however, perceived to be a ‘paradox’ to Falana as the activist noted that Nigeria is still grappling with underdevelopment due to its failure to remove structures mounted by the British colonialists.

Speaking on Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme of the Channels Television, Falana said: “When President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast yesterday (October 1) was thanking the British for uniting us, I was wondering where that was coming from because the colonial regime engaged in divide-and-rule.”

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When asked if it had been so far so good since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, Falana said it had been “so far, so bad.”

Falana said the country is yet to get things right after 61 years of freedom. He noted that the moment the political class embraced the development paradigm of colonialism and imperialism, the country got it wrong.

His statement reads: “Nigeria has refused to get it right; whereas, in 1960, Nigeria was ahead of many countries in Asia, including, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the rest of them. Today, some of these countries have frog jumped; they have left us as a Third World country and they have metamorphosed into First World.

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“So, for the majority of our people, 1960 provided an opportunity to start all over again but, unfortunately, the nationalist politicians who took over the reins of power from the British colonial regime did not decolonise the country and the psyche of our people. And all of them retained the colonial structures. The laws and ordinances were simply changed to the Act of Parliament. The institutions were left intact.”

The activist cited the example of the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Army and other security agencies, which have “continued to perform the roles they were performing under the colonial regime, i.e. these were forces set up to intimidate and harass our people and extort levies and taxes from them. And that has continued up till now.”

He also noted that the colonial regime adopted divide et impera taxim – divide and rule – in order to satisfy imperialism; noting that Nigeria was not established for the development of the country but was set up to facilitate the brutal exploitation of its human and natural resources after the slave trade.

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“Colonialism was in practice for over a hundred years; so, what you would have expected in 1960 was a radical departure from the colonial route that has led to the underdevelopment of our country.

“Unfortunately, when military adventurers in politics stepped in in 1960, the situation became worse. The country that was trying to practise federalism was turned into a unitary one,” Falana reiterated.