New Telegraph

Nigeria yet to recover from Civil War wounds – Kukah

…as Adebanjo reiterates call for change of constitution

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. (Dr) Matthew Hassan Kukah, has said that the country was yet to recover from the wounds of the Civil War, 51 years after it ended.
This was as a foremost Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, reiterated his call for an amendment to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
Both Kukah and Adebanjo spoke at the second edition of the ‘Never Again Conference’, a brainchild of the Nzuko Ummuna, a pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation.
The first edition of the conference, which focuses on measures to frustrate a repeat of the 1967 – 70 experience, was held last year.
Specifically, the priest of the most high God argued that the nation had inadvertently failed to take into cognisance resolutions that ordinarily would have healed the wounds of the past.
“Many had maintained that the 3Rs that the then Head of State projected as healing balms, may not have been faithfully implemented.
“I have met a lot of persons who fought the war..who are full of regrets.
“There is a lot of resentment, anxiety and frustration that we have not learnt any lessons.
“Fifty-one years after the war, we are still hearing the kind of agitations that ordinarily, with commitment, dedication, focus and the right leadership, we should have put a lot of the anxieties behind us. Unfortunately, they are still with us,” Kukah said.
He added: “The Oputa Panel managed to generate a lot of data and information that academicians and policymakers would have used to ensure we erect the signpost saying, ‘Never Again’, because it gave us an opportunity, a mirror to look at ourselves after hearing from all sides but we didn’t have the discipline to follow through.
“We have not been able to forgive ourselves as a people. The wounds of the Civil War have not been able to heal. Coups and counter-coups that followed were more or less miniature civil wars by themselves because they threw up the same contradictions, anxieties and feeling of divisiveness across the country.”
Also speaking, Adebanjo, who spoke on the topic, ‘The Second Never Again Conference: 51 years after the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War’, reiterated his consistent call for restructuring.
Hear him: “Our problem is our constitution; we need to go back to where we started in 1960. We have a fraudulent constitution and there are some who are benefiting from it.”

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