SURVEY RESULTS: Nigerians disagree with Buhari’s call for ‘One Nigeria’

An online poll conducted by Ripples Nigeria has returned an unsavory verdict on President Muhammadu Buhari’s call for a united Nigeria.

Insisting that the country’s unity was not negotiable, President Buhari had, at various times and at several fora, queried agitations by certain constituents for a break up of the federation.

Particularly irritating to the president has been the persistent call for a sovereign state of Biafra and the restiveness in the Niger Delta where certain elements have mooted self-determination.

Spurred by Buhari’s stance, a survey titled, ‘Buhari says Nigeria must remain as one. Do you agree?’ was administered on December 7. While the survey reached 388,113 Nigerians across all strata, a total of 1,171 persons responded to to the questionnaire.

The stats show that a very significant proportion of the population, about 78.3%, voted ‘No’ to Buhari’s persuasion for a united country. Those who stood with the president amounted to just 18%. However, 3.7% remained undecided on whether the country should break up or not.

A further evaluation of the stats also revealed that over 5000 comments were engendered by the survey, indicating very high level of robust discourse and conversation.

Read also: Join the survey: Buhari says Nigeria must remain as one. Do you agree?

The poll outcomes appear to tally with the position of some power blocs, especially of the Southern hue, who continue to maintain that the unity of the country must be negotiated.

Speaking for the pan-Yoruba group in July, Yinka Odumakin said, “I think the President is a sincere man but he may not be reading the mood correctly. The country is divided under him than before. Amalgamation and armed dialogue are going on all around us over the unity of Nigeria which many sections perceive has treated them unfairly.

“To continue to insist that the unity is not negotiable is aping that bird which buries its head in the sand and believes, because it is seeing nobody, it has become invisible too.”

Ohanaeze, on the other hand, said while it is not calling for secession of the country, it totally agrees with the Afenifere on the negotiability of Nigeria.

Ohanaeze Youth Council President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, stated that the current structure of Nigeria had not favoured all parts of the country, adding that Nigeria’s unity should be placed on periodic review.

Noting that the Igbo as a group canvassed the restructuring of the country during the last constitutional conference, Isiguzoro argued, “We (Ohanaeze Ndigbo) believe that Nigeria’s unity is negotiable. The principles and structures on the co-existence of the various nationalities that make up the country should be reviewed periodically.”

If the survey results are anything to go by, it leaves the president and the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), with the very daunting task of seeking more equitable ways of holding the federating units together.

 

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