It would be perfectly in order to create a Calabar state or a Rivers state by decree, and without a plebiscite.Awo
"""...... We have been told that an act of secession on the part of the East would be a signal, in the first instance, for the creation of the COR state by decree, which would be backed, if need be, by the use of force.
With great respect, I have some dissenting observations to make on this declaration. There are 11 national or linguistic groups in the COR areas with a total population of 5.3 millions. These national groups are as distinct from one another as the Ibos are distinct from them or from the Yorubas or Hausas.
Of the 11, the Efik/Ibibio/Annang national group are 3.2 million strong as against the Ijaws who are only about 700,000 strong.
Ostensibly, the remaining nine national group number 1.4 millions.
But when you have subtracted the Ibo inhabitants from among them, what is left ranges from the Ngennis who number only 8,000 to
the Ogonis who are 220,000 strong.
A decree creating a COR state without a plebiscite toascertain the wishes of the peoples in the area, would only amount to subordinating the minority national groups in the state to the dominance of the Efik/Ibibio/Annang national group. It would be perfectly in order to create a Calabar state or a Rivers state by decree, and without a plebiscite.
Each is a homogeneous national unit. But before you lump distinct and diverse national units together in one state, the consent of
each of them is indispensable. Otherwise, the seed of social disquilibrium in the new state would have been sown..............""" truncated
Awolowo..ApoHall Speech May 1 1967
No comments:
Post a Comment