By marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the civil war, elders, rulers and the people of Nigeria have agreed, Never Again, before God, the world and men that the country will never again be governed in a way that will lead to disunity, loss of lives and property of Nigerians.

Those were the words of the Head of the Assembly of All Yoruba Groups Worldwide, Senator Banji Akintoye. He stated this in his keynote speech at the Never Again Conference organised by Nzuko Umunna and Igbo Foundation, Lagos, in collaboration with civil society organisations, which held on January 13 at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

The renowned author and Professor of History noted that another reason to mark the day was to show gratitude to God that the war ended when it did. Recalling that he was a young lecturer in the mid-60s, he regretted that the affairs of the country are being run in a similar way as then, creating a similar political mood that led to the civil strife.

With the experience of hindsight, he said that the country is today governed by a minority interest, while the voices of the majority register protests which are often disrespected and ignored, and that the state of the law is patently being subsumed with seriously damaging effects on human rights.

This, he averred, give the peoples of the Middle-Belt and Southerners the feeling that they are being reduced to the status of conquered people.

The septuagenarian stressed the need to harmonise the fundamentals: “If we agree to live together, we must abide by the terms agreed,” adding that “it is madness doing the same thing over and expecting a different result.”

He reiterated the urgency of restructuring, with a view to giving a true and generally acceptable federal structure under which the various sections of the country will be able to develop their resources. And that those against restructuring are not wiser than the founding fathers who together with the colonial government gave Nigeria a federal structure.

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