…As Okocha, Wali, Adangor, Others Make Case For Minorities’ Rights
Eminent lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria ((SAN), Barrister Emmanuel C. Ukala has attributed the growing disparity between the minority and majority ethnic groups in the country to a failure by Nigerians to uphold the values enshrined in the old national anthem.
Speaking at a public lecture organized in honour of late legal icon, Sir B.M. Wifa at the NBA Building, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt on Thursday, Ukala said the old national anthem represented the wishes and aspirations of the nation’s founding fathers.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said the words and spirit of the old national anthem which was written by Lillian G. Williams, were carefully and wisely crafted as a foundation to drive the unity and survival of the nation.
The lawyer who spoke on the topic, ‘The Nigerian Project and Minority Question, Lessons and Expectations’, stressed that the old anthem was a critical element in the Nigerian project, but regretted that the Nigerian leadership only paid lip service to the words in the anthem and abdicated what actually paved the path to true unity of all and sundry.
After he was joined by the audience to make a soulful rendition of the old anthem, Ukala said the anthem was an affirmative statement of action to build a nation where, “though tribes and tongues may differ, we would all stand as brothers and sisters”, adding that what obtained in the country at the moment was a far cry from the intent of the anthem.
“This topic is relevant at this time in our nation’s history when calls for constitutional restructuring, disintegration, issues of minority rights and freedom are all in their crescendo”, Ukala said.
He said the title of the lecture was also apt because it touched on an area in which the late Wifa was very passionate, given the roles he played in the struggle for justice in Nigeria.
“If the Nigerian project is to succeed, then we must critically and periodically appraise every facet of the project so as to chart a prosperous course”, he posited.
In his keynote address, Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor said the disparity between the minority and majority ethnic groups in the country would only be corrected with a total review of the Constitution.
The Justice Commissioner insisted that the constitution should be reviewed to reflect the 1963 constitution which devolved powers and made the component units more powerful that the center.
Other speakers who made valuable contributions at the lecture include former Presidents of NBA, O.C.J. Okocha, SAN and Okey Wali, SAN as well as eminent jurist, Justice Eberechi Adiele.
Speaking to journalists after the lecture, daughter of the late B.M. Wifa, Dr. (Mrs) Anita Nubarido Wifa Oweredaba commended the Guest Lecturer and other discussants for doing justice to the topic, adding that her late father had been a strong voice for the voiceless on issues of minority rights, and never hid his disgust for the majority-minority divide in the country.
