Anyaoku Eulogises Akinjide Osuntokun at Book Launch, Says He’s Nigerian Patriot
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, has praised Emeritus Professor, Akinjide Osuntokun, the Baapitan of Oyo Kingdom, for his patriotism and love for Nigeria.
Speaking at Osuntokun’s book launch in Lagos, Anyaoku opined that as far as Nigeria practices the 1999 constitution, not even Angel Gabriel or Malaikah Jibrin as leaders, can successfully tackle the divisiveness and the current underperforming economy.
Stressing that Osuntokun is one of the few persons he counts as friends, Anyaoku recalled that he first knew of Jide Osuntokun when he was Adviser to Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, and accompanied the Foreign Minister in his journeys to campaign for his candidacy for the office of Commonwealth Secretary General.
According to the renowned diplomat, he got to know Osuntokun better and closely during the almost 14 years when he was his colleague in the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations which he (Anyaoku) chaired.
Characterising Osuntokun as having weighty intellectual endowment, Anyaoku recalled that he was educated in Universities in Nigeria, Germany and France and earned his PhD at Dalhousie University in Canada.
“Jide Osuntokun is a true patriot because he loves our country and believes in its future. As a fellow patriot, I would like at this point to reiterate briefly the view that I have expressed on many previous occasions on how the unity and future of our country can best be assured.
“I start from the clearly undeniable fact that Nigeria, like many other countries across the world, is a pluralistic country, that is a country whose population consists of groups of peoples long established in their separate geographical areas with different histories, cultures, languages and religions.
“The universal lesson is that pluralistic countries which have survived as single political entities in unity and progress are those that addressed their pluralism, that is their diversity, with genuine federal constitutions. Examples of such countries are India, Canada and Switzerland.
“The other pluralistic countries which failed to manage their pluralism with true federal constitutions eventually disintegrated. Examples of these include Yugoslavia which after 74 years of existence broke into seven sovereign countries, Czechoslovakia which separated into two independent states, East Timor which separated from Indonesia, and coming nearer home in Africa, Sudan which broke into two separate countries after almost three thousand years of existence.
“I believe therefore that if our pluralistic Nigeria is to achieve true unity and political stability, and to successfully tackle the serious challenges that the country currently faces, it must have a truly federal constitution.
“ To those who think that the trouble with Nigeria today is the political leadership, I would say that as long as we have the 1999 constitution as our grundnorm, not even Angel Gabriel or Malaikah Jibrin as leaders, can successfully tackle the divisiveness, the underperforming economy with the resultant poverty, the insecurity, the humongous corruption, and the other major challenges currently facing Nigeria,” Anyaoku posited.
Anyaoku warned that for the sake of preserving the country, the federal government and the National Assembly should not delay any longer acting on what is clearly a universal lesson.
“We must have a true Nigerian peoples’ democratic constitution based on the principles that underlined our 1960/63 constitution which was painstakingly negotiated and agreed by the founding fathers of independent Nigeria.
“As many of us here in this room will remember, Nigeria was more united, more stable and developing towards achieving its potential under that constitution until the military intervened in the country’s governance in January 1966 and introduced the unitary constitution that has virtually existed, albeit in different forms, until today,” he said.
Besides, he described Osuntokun not only an accomplished academic, but also a patriot who was deservedly recognised last year by the prestigious Hallmarks of Labour Foundation through the award to him of the title HLF, which means a role model for young people on how to achieve success through hard work and integrity.
