By Godswill Akpabio
I pay tribute to His Excellency Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, for his enduring faith in a greater Nigeria. I commend his courage in creating a forum for Nigerians of all political hues and persuasions to take their destiny in their hands, and contribute to the national discourse. I applaud him for his many transformational programmes and policies, which shall remain indelible legacies in the petals of our history.
He typifies our ideas about this country and he exemplifies the labours and sacrifices of our heroes past. Patriots like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chiefs Mrs Margeret Ekpo, Chief Eyo Ita, Chief Anthony Enahoro and others. They would be happy today as we assemble in this ancient city to rekindle the flame of nationalism they lit in their times. They would be glad that we have inherited their faith in our nation and are set, in our coming together, to redirect the course of our journey as a nation.
Today, the West, the East and the South South meet in this ancient city of Calabar, which was the capital of the Southern Protectorate of Nigeria before the amalgamation of our country. The history of Calabar undeniably makes Calabar the cradle of Southern Nigeria; but by our converge here we can make it the crucible of a new Southern Nigeria, bound in love, unity and brotherhood. A new Southern Nigeria, which would brim with hope for our nation and redefine the balance of our politics more along the lines of North and South.
Politics have divided our country into six geopolitics zones, but history and origin partitioned us into Southern and Northern Protectorates. Today the Northern Protectorate still speaks with one voice; even though we have North West, North East and Middle Belt.
But the Southern Protectorate has been lost in South East, South West and South South Regions. I want the regions to remain (as we have in the North), but, like in the North, the regions should not become walls of separation. The crux of the matter is that our colonial masters divided the Southern Protectorate into Eastern and Western Regions, without doing the same to the Northern Protectorate.
But today we must put the Southern Protectorate back again in our national narrative as a bloc with common patriotic interest. If we can come together, speak with one voice; we can give our country a new lease of life. We are separated by language, but we are not separated by values. What binds us together is greater than what separates us.
There is a story of our relationship, which gnaws our hearts more than words could do. On July 28, 1966, an Igbo man finished his assignment in Ibadan and wanted to head back to Lagos. His host, a Yoruba man, warned him that his life was in danger and insisted that he should spend the night in Ibadan. That night when danger came calling, the Yoruba man stood his ground and laid down his life for the Igbo man. Jesus Christ said greater love had no man than this that he would lay down his life for another.
The story of Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi is a storied tale of friendship as compelling as that between David and Jonathan in the Bible. Let us adopt this story as the model for the relationship between the East, the West and the South South. Let us weave it into our folklores and fables, that because they died together in friendship, we will live forever in unity, love and brotherhood.
Being the Text of a Goodwill Message By The Executive Governor Of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio, CON, To The Southern Leaders Summit In Calabar, February 24, 2014
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