Fashola questions Nigeria’s centenary celebration plan
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has questioned the federal government to celebrate the Centenary of the amalgamation in 1914 of the disparate ethnic groups by a British colonialist, describing it as a distortion of history. He said the birth of the nation dated back to 1 October, 1960 and not in 1914 as some people want us to believe.
“For me, Nigeria was born as an independent sovereign nation on the first of October 1960. perhaps, she was conceived in 1914, but as we race towards this, it is important not to distort history, I would seek better understanding, better explanation by those who are behind the centenary celebration because if we rolled out the drums three years ago to celebrate 50 years of Nigeria’s nationhood, Independence that we fought for, people went to jail for, what is then this centenary suddenly about because I don’t remember as a child ever coming out at amalgamation day and suddenly, how did we get to 100?
“Did we do 99, did we do 50, did we do 60? So there is something wrong here. I don’t know, but I will like clarifications. A generation is coming behind us, they need to be clear about the history of our country and as I said, maybe conception of Nigeria took place in 1914, but it is the birthday, the date of birth of a child that we celebrate and I think that birthday is October first 1960,” he stated.
Governor Fashola added that “the circumstances might be different at the moment but I would like to end with words spoken by a great statesman, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in 1967, at another time when our country was at a crossroads: ‘Only a peaceful solution must be found to arrest the present worsening stalemate and restore normalcy.”
“I adopt those evergreen words as my own today and urge all those involved in any form of conflict or disagreement to pursue peaceful solutions,” he stated.
Fashola commended the spirit of resilience that had propelled Nigerians to always forge ahead in the face of all odds, adding that in the past year since this event was last held, the state government had made a lot of progress in the state.
“We are still standing and still standing as one. Despite the various challenges that we are still facing, I remain inspired by the fact that Nigerians continue to repose their faith in this country” He commended the spirit of resilience that had kept the nation and the people to always forge ahead in the face of all odds, adding that in the past year since this event was last held, the state government had made a lot of progress in the state.