(Being Part of a Series of Anniversary Reminders to Nigeria, 56 Years after the May 30, 1967 Declaration of the Republic of Biafra, 54 Years after the 1970 Cessation of Battlefield Hostilities in Eastern Nigeria and 5 days ahead of the May 29, 2024 One-Year Anniversary of the Coronation of the Interregnum President thrown up by the Presidential Election charade of February 25, 2023).
As angry debates continue over the Untenable, Unworkable and Disputed Unitary Constitutional Arrangements of Nigeria, Imposed as Victory Charter by the North/South-West Alliance of 1967 against the Vanquished East, the unspoken aspects of that Debate continued to speak louder than the verbalized pretenses and noises about the Unity of Nigeria.
When the news broke late 2023, of the Plan by the “Federal Government of Nigeria” to construct a Coastal Highway from Lagos to Calabar by a Government battling with a terribly debilitating Legitimacy Question, a flurry of thoughts went through my mind because I immediately perceived the Project as a grand plan by the drowning Government to distract a traumatized populace, rape the Treasury in Trillions once more in the name of another white elephant project, do some mischief to perceived enemies and possibly create some false hopes for the Populace about better days ahead. I casually communicated these thoughts in the public space because I did not want to drag the NINAS I speak for, into the murky arena of the altercations that were already happening between the Government and the so-called Opposition Parties on the Humongous Cost of the Coastal Road Project, (which had been awarded to the construction firm of the Chagoury Brothers), with references being made to the atrocious cost of the Lagos Light Rail Projects between the same retinue of Contracting Parties, casting off the veils of “Government” and “Company”.
In no time the Massive Demolition in Victoria Island of the Landmark Resort happened amidst claims and counterclaims of what was agreed as the route of the Coastal Road and what was done in the Demolition. Some of those who read my aforementioned postulations on the Proposed Coastal Road Project called to suggest that one of the predictions had happened, the bit about mischief against perceived enemies.
Then came the May 23, 2024 thunderbolt by the unthinking loudmouth of a Works Minister, David Umahi, when he, in a Volte-Face, announced that in order to avoid damage to Coastal Telecommunications Cables the Federal Government would revert to the Original Road Design as adjusted between Kilometers 16 and 25, which would have avoided the Demolition of the Landmark Resort Property.
Just like the mysterious fires that gutted most of the Igbo-Dominated Markets in Lagos in the immediate aftermath of 2023 Presidential Election, the Demolitions that have been going on in Lagos since after the 2023 Presidential Election are Practical Quit Notices to the Igbo in Lagos.
Going by the antecedents and illicit liaisons of the Principal Dramatis Personae of the Contracting Parties (Tinubu and the Chagoury Brothers, as well as the buffoon of a Minster presiding over the charade), it takes being blind not to see that the main objectives of the so-called Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway are to Swindle Hefty Public Funds running in Trillions of Naira and Billions of Dollars off the Treasury and to Sweep away major Igbo Assets in Coastal Lagos.
When these Lagos Demolitions are juxtaposed with similar Post-2023 Presidential Election Demolitions in Abuja, in terms of the Principal Dramatis Personae in the Demolition Altercations (ie FCT Minister Wike and Igbo Owners of the Demolished Properties), the practical Quit Notice to the Igbo from Abuja is replicated and the picture you see is clearly that of a continuing onslaught of the 1967 Alliance against the Dot-In-Circle, 54 Years after the cessation of the Mortar-Fire Phase of the Nigeria Biafra War in January 1970. (See the map below)
If anyone was ever in doubt about the sure demise of Unitary Nigeria, these Practical Quit Notices to the Igbo in Lagos and Abuja at a time that Nigeria’s Unitary Constitution (1999) imposed by that Alliance, has been Defeated, Delegitimized and in the Irreversible process of being Decommissioned, should clear that doubt.
In the meantime, it also takes being blind not to see that the Igbo have long moved on from the Defunct Federation of Nigeria that died since the 1966-1967 demise of that Federation.
Those who wish to understand what has happened to the Federation of Nigeria and the Redemption Pathway charted and being executed by NINAS, would do well to pay close attention to the series of Virtual Townhalls at which the NINAS 5-Point Proposition for Constitutional Reconstruction of Nigeria are being Presented.
