• Latest
  • Trending
Ode to an Independence post, By Gbola Olagbegi

Ode to an Independence post, By Gbola Olagbegi

10 months ago
2023: Why Tinubu leads, By Adesoji Akanbi

2023: Why Tinubu leads, By Adesoji Akanbi

3 hours ago
‘Rotate power to South to retain power’- Akeredolu tells APC

Akeredolu: Why southerner should succeed Buhari in 2023

7 hours ago
17-year-old  student commits suicide for failing promotion exams

Monarch docked for attacking another traditional ruler

8 hours ago
‘Rotate power to South to retain power’- Akeredolu tells APC

Owo church attack: Akeredolu clears air on arrest of Kuje prison escapee

9 hours ago
VON DG to Tinubu: shelve your presidential ambition, back young candidate from South East

Tell your supporters to stop attacking Tinubu, campaign organisation warns Peter Obi

10 hours ago
Lalong: Pope hasn’t told me it’s wrong to lead Muslim-Muslim presidential campaign

Lalong: Pope hasn’t told me it’s wrong to lead Muslim-Muslim presidential campaign

11 hours ago
Terrorists release four children, three others abducted on Abuja-Kaduna train

Terrorists release four children, three others abducted on Abuja-Kaduna train

11 hours ago
Killings: We’ll ensure Okowa’s vice presidential ambition becomes mirage- IPOB

Killings: We’ll ensure Okowa’s vice presidential ambition becomes mirage- IPOB

14 hours ago
FULL LIST: Oyo PDP NASS candidates for 2023 elections

2023: Oyo PDP asks IGP, Police Commissioner to monitor Folarin’s activities

14 hours ago
Oyo to refund intending pilgrims who missed 2022 Hajj

Oyo to refund intending pilgrims who missed 2022 Hajj

15 hours ago
Why Buga crooner, Kizz Daniel was arrested in Tanzania

Kizz Daniel apologises to Tanzanian fans, promises free show Friday

18 hours ago
‘I’ll never interfere in Nigeria’s internal affairs’-Ghana President disowns post asking ‘Tinubu to give Peter Obi a chance’

‘I’ll never interfere in Nigeria’s internal affairs’-Ghana President disowns post asking ‘Tinubu to give Peter Obi a chance’

18 hours ago
‘Act now before it’s too late’-LAUTECH students seek Buhari, Makinde’s intervention on abducted student

LAUTECH student killing: Oyo monarch pledges to volunteer information

18 hours ago
RCCG retires National Overseer,  70-year-old pastors

RCCG retires National Overseer, 70-year-old pastors

1 day ago
FG lauds NCC’s regulatory strides

FG lauds NCC’s regulatory strides

1 day ago
Osun 2022: Stop attacking Makinde, he has no anointed candidate –Rep

JUST IN: Makinde effects minor cabinet reshuffle

1 day ago
Councillors suspend Ido LG chairman indefinitely

Councillors suspend Ido LG chairman indefinitely

1 day ago
I’ll still perform if you take me away from PDP, Wike boasts

I’ll still perform if you take me away from PDP, Wike boasts

1 day ago
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Newspeakonline
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia
    • Europe
  • Opinion
  • Interview
  • Newspeak ExclusivesNew
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia
    • Europe
  • Opinion
  • Interview
  • Newspeak ExclusivesNew
No Result
View All Result
Newspeak
UBA
Home Opinion

Ode to an Independence post, By Gbola Olagbegi

newspeak by newspeak
September 30, 2021
in Opinion
Reading Time: 3 mins read
262 3
0
Ode to an Independence post, By Gbola Olagbegi
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare on Telegram

On 1st October 2021, Nigeria will celebrate Independence Day with march-pasts and speeches by dignitaries. But our leaders are oblivious to the fact that Nigeria of today is not the country that was birthed on the same day in 1960.

RelatedPosts

‘I’ll never interfere in Nigeria’s internal affairs’-Ghana President disowns post asking ‘Tinubu to give Peter Obi a chance’

How to end killings in Yoruba land- Sunday Igboho

Emirates reduces flights to Nigeria over inability to repatriate $85m revenue

The terms and agreements of that independence–for which our fathers risked their lives by opposing, cajoling, and pleading with our colonizers to set us free–are no longer applicable in Nigeria.

What is clear to me is that the 1966 coups d’etat were not just a military takeover of government. They were, in reality, disguised recolonization of Nigerians by a military cabal. Nigerians did not invite the cabal, whose members are proteges of colonial powers and probably have foreign backers.
Colonization is the takeover of a geographical area and its population to exploit the human, material and financial resources thereof to the benefit of the colonizers, by use of threat or military force. The coups d’etat of 1966 took not only the government of Nigeria, it took away our Independence. The military cabal that took over the government and has been there for the past 55years, were not our saviors, they were our conquerors!

FeedWell

The current generation of Nigerians are victims of a collective Stockholm Syndrome. If you were born after 1966, or were young like myself, this oppressive governance system, which has never really benefited Nigerians, is all that we ever knew. Some of us actually now believe that this is the normal way a government should run. No, it is not!
Let me recount some of what the composite nationalities agreed to at Independence–to allow for peaceful co-existence and their mutual developments–but which were lost to the overthrow of Nigeria.

1) We lost of our ancestral land, therefore we cannot even repair roads that link our towns because it belongs to a federal government that we did not give the land to.

2) We lost control of the resources in our land. At Independence, what was negotiated was that the central government has the right to a tax on mineral resources found in the land of any region. It cannot own it.

3) We lost the control of the use of our taxes and internally generated revenues to use for the infrastructural development of our towns and cities.

4) We lost the ability to conduct our own elections and choose our own representatives, since elections are centrally controlled and can be manipulated from the center.

5) We lost our independence to control and manage our own developmental plan and progress since everything is handed down as instructions to us from our rulers.

6) We lost our voice- No one is listening to our complaints and cries for change, dialogue and a reversal of these anomalies.

7) We lost our ability to defend ourselves–as all powers have been centralized and we are at the mercy of our rulers. Any dissenting voice is a candidate for assassination by the fifth columnists.

8) We lost our prosperity and our ability to create wealth for ourselves, because of being entrapped in a system that is not designed for our benefit but that of our rulers.

9) We have lost the strides in development and emancipation that we were seeing in our nation at independence and the forward relentless march towards modernization.

10) We have lost everything if we do not rise to demand our Independence back and take up the struggle to liberate our nation from our conquerors.
So, on this Independence Day anniversary, let us rue the independence that we lost and resolve to put an end to our state of arrested and truncated development and progressive regression.

Let us demand from our internal colonizers a fresh independence. Let us seek a restructuring of Nigeria back to the country we all agreed to at Independence in 1960. No nationality in Nigeria ever agreed to this unitary by force arrangement that has crippled our development.
It is time to stand up and be counted.

Dr. Gbola Olagbegi is a consultant obstetrician & gynaecologist

What's Your Reaction?

  • LolLol
    0
    Lol
  • OMGOMG
    0
    OMG
  • AngryAngry
    0
    Angry
  • LoveLove
    0
    Love
  • CuteCute
    0
    Cute
  • WinWin
    0
    Win
  • CryCry
    0
    Cry

Related

Tags: Independence DayNigeria
Previous Post

Independence Day: Buhari repositioning Nigeria’s economy-Oyo APC

Next Post

Nigerian actor arrested for selling drugs in India

RecentPosts

2023: Why Tinubu leads, By Adesoji Akanbi

2023: Why Tinubu leads, By Adesoji Akanbi

August 10, 2022
Osun guber poll: After being deregistered by INEC, AD asks members, supporters to vote Oyetola

Oyetola: To be regal in defeat! By Sulaiman Salawudeen

August 4, 2022
From CAN to cant, By Sam Omatseye

From CAN to cant, By Sam Omatseye

July 25, 2022
How Nigeria turbans its terrorists, the Ada Aleru, By Festus Adedayo

How Nigeria turbans its terrorists, the Ada Aleru, By Festus Adedayo

July 24, 2022
Shun religious, ethnic division- Tinubu tells Nigerians

Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Between panic and presidency, By Adesoji Akanbi

July 20, 2022
Wole Soyinka at 88: Grossly misunderstood or rightly vilified?   By Wole Adejumo

Wole Soyinka at 88: Grossly misunderstood or rightly vilified? By Wole Adejumo

July 17, 2022
VIDEO: Tinubu confirms Shettima as vice presidential candidate as Masari resigns as placeholder running mate

Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Accepting child of necessity, By Soji Akanbi  

July 14, 2022
Abuja prison attack: 443 inmates at large, four dead, Abba Kyari, other VIPs safe – Correctional service

Kuje: Did we hand over Nigeria to terrorists in 2015? By Festus Adedayo

July 10, 2022
Next Post
Nigerian actor arrested for selling drugs in India

Nigerian actor arrested for selling drugs in India

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Newspeakonline

© 2020 Newspeak & Associates
Optimized by IChannelTech.

Navigate Site

  • Breaking News
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Interview
  • Newpeak Magazine
  • Newspeak Exclusives
  • Politics

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
  • Opinion
  • Interview
  • Newspeak Exclusives

© 2020 Newspeak & Associates
Optimized by IChannelTech.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Newspeak We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
Dismiss
Allow Notifications