As Nigeria gets set to mark her anniversary as a political entity, the fact is not lost on anyone that at no time has the nation been this divided along ethnic and religious lines.
The sideshow is the seeming controversy on whether or not the logo designed to mark the 62nd independence anniversary of the nation was plagiarised.
The main act is the message the logo was meant to portray and convey to a beleaguered people, who have had to face a constant exploitation of their fault lines by a rapacious political elite.
The message in the independence logo is: “62 Years Together”.
In the actual sense of the word, the nation has been together as one entity.
Since independence, the nation has not broken up despite political and ethnic centrifugal forces pulling her from different angles.
What has contributed to this was the lopsided nature of the federation at independence.
As at 1960, the nation had three regions: Western, Eastern and Northern Regions.
While they were three in number, the sizes were so disproportional.
It is not even a case of “The Great African Escape” as many are hypothesizing but which the scenario in South Africa has debunked.
Sixty-two, as a watershed timeline, is very significant.
It is an anniversary precious and valuable, but they exist forever.
There must be something in numbers that makes nations with very large populations like China, India, Russia, the Philippines and USA, as well as countries like Canada and Great Britain, to exhibit zero-tolerance towards secessionist agitations.
We ought to equally be wisely guided.
The drumbeats of secession is certainly not the best way to settle our differences.
Let us roll out the drums in our homes, offices, churches and mosques in celebration.
Hurray!
Happy 62nd independence anniversary in an advance!!
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
