It is high time we dissolved this big beast called a country. After the constitutional crisis of 1953 the nation became ungovernable. The four western ministers that resigned meant the executive arm could not function.  Governor Macpherson flew Awolowo in from Ibadan to his Marina office for a 70-minute long closed-door meeting. He  wanted to know if the AG’s tenacious quest for Nigeria’s independence was also a critique of the territory as it was. Daily Times of 11 April 1953 found the colonial governor asking Awolowo: “Does the Western region want to stand alone as a country?” He opened himself up to suggestion on how best to dissolve the country. Awolowo flatly rejected the idea of splitting the West from Nigeria. In fact it was Awolowo who suggested ways of mending the country through another constitutional conference, which he then transmitted to Oliver Lyttleton, the Secretary for Colonies in London. Like Zik and other nationalists of that era, Awolowo believed a big, strong and prosperous Nigeria would take its rightful place on the world stage and be the pride of Africa and the black world. Instead, Nigeria has consistently been a global disgrace ever since. Now is the time to split the country into two or three – and if the South-Southerners want to go it alone – four countries.

No ajoji or omo onile should be afraid of this move, in the West at least. Oshodi Tapa was a little boy from the North who was about to be loaded onto a Portuguese ship as another sold slave. With his parents already murdered, he escaped and sought refuge in Oba of Lagos’ palace. Oba Eshinlokun took him in and raised him like one of his own princes. Oshodi Tapa grew up to become a war general who organised the defence of Lagos when the British ships pounded it with artillery fire in 1851. It took these warships which would later participate in the Crimean War in Russia nine days to subdue Lagos and Oshodi Tapa’s forces destroying one of ships Teazer. Today Oshodi Tapa and his descendants are accepted as Lagosians with their own area and noble line of succession.

 Also the first sets of Igbos to migrate to and be absorbed by the West were Osu. Condemned to living in evil forests and other dehumanising existence, they seized the endless opportunities the West had to offer and made it. As professionals or working class, they were the ones who went to show their tormentors and dehumanisers back home where the new prosperity was going to be. That led to an outward gush of the Igbos in the 1920s. According to Crown Agents archives, 13,000 alone sailed from Lagos to build Ghana’s railway.  Zik’s newspapers and chain of businesses were set up with money from Osus in Lagos. This welcoming nature of  the Yoruba would continue when Nigeria ceases to exist. No non-Yoruba in the West who does not want to leave for his/her new country must be forced to leave. More so, there must be no asset forfeitures. To account for decades of intermarriages,  every ex-Nigerian must be entitled to dual citizenship, one for country of residence and another for country of origin should the two differ.

In fact not much would change by the fluidity of choice of residence in so far it is backed up with the loyalty that comes with Oshodi-Tapa kind of citizenship. What would substantially change however is the fact that the progress and the resources of those who want to live in the 21st century would no longer be threatened or held back by those who prefer to stay put in the 7th century.

We want a good-bye referendum now. And the National Conference sitting in Abuja should make itself useful by setting a date for one. Enough is enough.

– Damola Awoyokun is a writer and engineer.