Human rights activist and social critic, Senator Shehu Sani, has sparked an engaging debate on X (formerly Twitter) with a post in which he challenged fellow Nigerians, especially those who hold the view that Nigeria is a product of a forced marriage contracted by the British colonialists for their convenience, on the ethos of nation building.
The former lawmaker who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th National Assembly, told this set of Nigerians that concept of creating countries through the so-called forced marriage arrangement was widely adopted by the British, Portuguese, French, and Spanish colonialists to create countries in Africa, submitting that it wasn’t peculiar to Nigeria.
To buttress this point, he cited specific instances of this, stating that a part of South Sudan was gifted to Ethiopia, a part of Somalia was given to Kenya, and Egypt benefitted from the territory gift as well, as ancient Egypt was smaller than the present day Egypt.
But this wasn’t peculiar to Africa alone, according to the senator, as the United States of America, Canada, and most Latin American, were equally forcefully coupled together by their colonialists.
The highpoint of his submission that these other nations have successfully navigated the challenges of nation building and ethnic or racial conflicts. He stressed that these nations have overcome the things that divided them and have forged ahead to become progressive nations.
However, his argument failed to impress everyone who reacted to the post.
Many came up with strong arguments to counter his points.
Nonetheless, there were many others who agreed with him that there was the need to jettison tribal divisions and invest in nation building.
Read some of the reactions here: