I joined politics in 1978 at a tender age of 26 years. That was 43years ago.
I never had a godfather or mentor in those days. I relied on God for direction and my innate passion for the Nigerian state for guidance as to who I fellowshiped with politically.
The party that held sway in the southwest then was the unity party of nigeria led by late chief obafemi Awolowo, who hailed from ikenne some 6 or 7km from iperu the town of my birth.
Late chief Awolowo was a bosom friend of my late father who was the leader of defunct Action Group in Remo Division.
With all that, without knowing anybody in the NPN I sought for where the party was meeting in my area of domicile.
I joined the NPN at the epetedo ward of Lagos island.
My major reason for joining this party which was highly unpopular in my larger constituency was because even at that young age I reasoned that the NPN was a party with a national spread & outlook and not a regional or ethnic political association, even though the strong presence of the north was quite obvious even then.
Nationalism had been the guiding philosophy of my political alignments and associations all through the past 43 odd years.
Personally I have suffered personal abuse, insults and political deprivations along the line.
All this never bothered me for once. My focus had always been to belong to the group that will always put Nigerian unity and oneness above all other considerations always.
The pronouncements from the northern governors forum in the presence of highly revered traditional institution in the north has cast a massive dark shadow of regret over my mind.
Those pronouncements finally unveiled the divide, the dichotomy and huge horizontal cleavage in our country and its polity.
The bold boundaries entrenched by political affiliations and parties, suddenly became blurred and indistinct. It has been replaced by North vs South dichotomy mo more PDP VS APC.
True unity is now difficult if not impossible to conceive.
As a major stakeholder and player in this system who have had the privilege to observe how some strong leaders have risen to the occasion whenever we approached this spot on the Cliff, I now call on some of these same of these men who have become weather beaten by advancement in age and possibly illness but whose wisdom and political prowess have nevertheless diminished, to quickly come together even if for the very last time to preserve our unity.
And if that is a hard task, let them try to construct a bridge on which the north and south may still traverse to preserve the sanctity of the nation.
I want to directly with all humility and sense of responsibility call on Former presidents Gowon, Obasanjo, Babangida, Abdulsalam, Jonathan, Gen Danjuma, Gen Gusau, Iwuayanwu, John Nwodo, and who else they deem fit, to come together within the next 72hrs and attend to this explosive and perilous situation.
I have painfully left our our revered traditional and respected religious leaders principally because of the recent outing in kaduna over the same issue.
May the Almighty God prevail on our leaders and endow them with the wisdom and courage to do what is right and what is just to preserve our dear Nation. AMEN.
- Okupe is a former presidential aide
