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| Bishop John Onaiyekan |
The Catholic Bishop of Abuja arch diocese, John Onaiyekan, has blamed increased agitation for Nigeria’s breakup on the failure of the current government to abide by the principle of federal character in the appointment of public officers.
Mr. Onaiyekan, a cardinal, spoke in Abuja Wednesday at an event to mark the centenary of Abuja’s first Catholic archbishop, late Ignatius Cardinal Ekandem.
“The issue is, what are those things that are happening in Nigeria now, which need to be critically and effectively looked at, in such that, this sense of dissatisfaction, exclusion, injustice that people are feeling will be reduced to the minimum?” he asked.
“We all know what is causing people to be angry. If the federal character leads to injustice and marginalization, then, it does not make sense. We must change the way we are doing things, we cannot continue like this. Definitely, if we do, there will be more anger, more calls for change and we don’t know who will be able to mobilize more people to cause more problem.
“It is not only the Biafrans who are disgusted with this country; a lot of us are, even though we still are not thinking of leaving the country. It is like a father who is angry with his son; you will still not throw him away.”
Mr. Onaiyekan said the problems currently threatening the unity of the country could be addressed through restructuring.
“Some people put it under big title of restructuring. We need to restructure if we want the country to survive. The truth is that things are not organized properly and it makes the people to be dissatisfied,” Mr. Onaiyekan said.
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