- * Canvasses For A Henry Willinks Commission Kind Of Enquiry To Address All Public Concerns
By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief) @CeleOkaf11
Former Senate President, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, has, again, written to President Muhamadu Buhari, suggesting how the federal government of Nigeria could riggle the nation out her climate of insecurity and growing national tension arising from recent spate of ethnic agitations.
In a 4-page reminder public memo to the President on Monday dated May 3, 2021, Senator Anyim who was a former number three citizen of Nigeria, explained that he was compelled to write the President again following his observation that the "unfortunate and avoidable circumstances we have found ourselves in, as a nation, have continued to fester to the magnitude of threatening the fabric of the nation".
The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF,) in the ex-President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan's administration also stated that his letter was therefore to "reconvey" his earlier written suggestion to Mr President sometime in late October 2018, which, he said, he believe, did not get to him through his late former Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari.
However, following what he described as the perilous threats to the Nigeria's sovereignty at the time President Buhari took over the reigns of power in 2015, Senator Anyim said the Boko Haram insurgence in the North East; the armed agitation in the Niger Delta Region, and the IPOB agitation in the South East, had all become a worrisome concern to the country.
But Mr. President, he pointed out, had promised to tackle the existing insecurity with emphasis on reclaiming the territories occupied by Boko Haram, which, Anyim said, the President indeed tackled with uncommon determination. Though unfortunately, according to him, the challenge, with time, became hydra headed and was almost getting beyond control which began to generate public concern and ultimately provoked the current public outcry.
While pointing out that every violent agitation originates from a non-violent agitation that was not attended to, Senator Anyim reminded President Buhari that Nigeria today is currently bedeviled with violent and non-violent agitations. He said It is also a fact that the current violent agitations originated from non-violent agitations like that of Boko Haram, which he claimed, started as a non-violent procession. The herders/farmers clashes, he said, has also degenerated into a deadly conflict with many "states now bloody theaters of war such as the ethnic conflicts in Kaduna, Ebonyi, Cross River, Benue, Plateau states etc.
Anyim stated that these evident conflicts are escalating to an unmanageable scale with armed banditry like kidnapping manifesting in virtually all states of the federation, particularly in Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger and Sokoto states, a situation which the Nigerian statesman reasoned, appears to have overwhelmed the Law enforcement agencies in the country.
Anyim however claimed that to worsen matters, Boko Haram, has acquired new impetus such that they now "overrun the military and have even expanded their base to Niger State. IPOB has become a regional challenge. On the non-violent side, agitations for restructuring are scaling up in momentum. Ethnic consciousness and allegiance even among the elite, are far eroding national concerns. All these and many more coupled with gross downturn in the national economic, social and political space, have become apparent threats to our nationhood".
In the face of all the challenges he had enumerated however, Senator Anyim advised President Buhari not to succumb to the temptations or pockets of calls by some Nigerians to employ military actions or even invite foreign help, as such measures alone cannot bring permanent solutions to ethnic conflicts or nationality agitations. The efficacious option, in this circumstance, according to Anyim's counsel, is for Mr. President to urgently create a platform to hear Nigerians out.
The highpoint of Anyim's missive to the Nigerian leader, was his suggestions on the way out the insecurity quagmire experienced by the country. He argues that the solution must involve citizens participation.
However, in his suggestions, the former lawmaker drew the attention of the President to the bottom pot approach employed by Sir Henry Harry Willink, a former British Colonial Administrator during the pre-independent period of Nigeria's March to independence who chaired the famous Willink's Commission in 1957.
Sir Henry Willink's Commission produced a far-reaching report after extensive hearings of the complaints and suggestions from the people. Anyim opines that it can be argued that no other document in the history of Nigeria has had such far-reaching impact on the political structure of the nation at Independence as the Willink's Commission of Enquiry report. "It guided the debates in subsequent constitutional conferences before the independence and also gave structure to the emergent Constitutions", he stated.
Anyim told Mr President thus: "In the build-up to securing the Nigerian Independence, the Colonial Administration were confronted with reservations by the minority tribes in the three regions of Northern, Eastern and Western Nigeria about fears of domination by the majority tribes. In other to find a lasting solution, the Colonial Administration appointed a commission to “ENQUIRE INTO THE FEARS OF MINORITIES AND MEANS OF ALLAYING THEM”.
He stated that "the greatest achievement of Willink’s Commission is that its report provided the colonial administration and the nation an in-depth understanding of the nature, dimensions and magnitude of the fears of the minority tribes. Accordingly, its recommended solutions became an official position and was easily accepted to be constitutionalised as a long-term measure.
"There is no gainsaying that reservations about the continued existence of Nigeria is building up to a dangerous time bomb. I make bold to say that no solution except one birthed by an independently conducted engagement with fact-based recommendations arrived at with the participation of the citizens, will provide an enduring solution.
"The most outstanding recommendation of the Willink’s Commission as a long-time solution is the inclusion of a Fundamental Human Rights Chapter in the constitution. It was recommended that the inclusion of the Fundamental Human Rights Chapter in the constitution will protect all citizens, including the minority stock from any governmental and or majority bloc abuses. I must say at this point that it was the recommendations of the Willink’s Commission that gave all the component groups in Nigeria the comfort to go into the union at independence".
Anyim reasoned that "it has become apparent that the foundation of the various agitations in Nigeria today is that the comfort provided at independence by the Willink’s Commissions Report is no longer working.
On the basis of this however, the former number three citizen of the Nigeria recommends to President Buhari that he should strive to make history by "enpaneling another commission of inquiry to inquire into the violent and non-violent agitations in Nigeria and make recommendations on the immediate, short- and long-term solutions, as a way of first de-escalating the rising tension in the land and a process for the renewal of our march to nationhood.
"It is important to note that in a democracy, no action is deemed successful or completed until the buy-in-of the people is secured through a democratic process. This buy-in- is an imperative that is yet to be pursued in the fight against violent agitations in Nigeria. I must say that as long as the people are not part of the process of finding solutions to the conflicts, a permanent solution will be a mirage", Senator Pius maintains.
He went ahead to list for Mr President what he considers as the benefits of such a commission he had just recommended.
First, he told President Buhari that such Commission would definitely de-escalate the current tension in the country and also create a platform for exchange of ideas.
Second, he said such Commission is a natural Governmental process of addressing challenges of public importance. The report of such a commission will put in proper perspective and provide basis for further action.
Third, that it will offer the citizenry the opportunity and platform to share their concerns and to be heard. According to him, this helps to build confidence and reduce animosity and mutual suspicion.
Fourth, it identifies the immediate and remote causes of the current challenges and will most certainly provide a framework for their resolution.
Fifth, that such a commission will aim not only to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the agitations, but also determine the various dimensions and define them accordingly. For example, Anyim argued that democratic agitations will be separated from violent crimes to the understanding of all. "It will also capture the reasons for the agitations and the Justice thereto", the lawmaker said.
Sixth, such a Commission, he advised, will propose immediate short- and long-term solutions and develop a roadmap towards addressing them. "Such roadmap used as a national reference document would guide further interactions and process for implementation".
And lastly, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim canvassed that such document will be the foundation for a new Nigeria and anchored on negotiated settlement and derived from the legitimacy bestowed by citizen participation and the credibility of the commission. NNL.
