Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe representing Abia South has declared there is nothing called the North, noting that “if you go there, there are so many divisions going on.”
In an exclusive interview with Vanguard, the Senate Minority Leader said that there are two classes of people in Nigerian politics, “those who are in power and those who are not.”
Senator Abaribe while answering Vanguard reporter’s question on “But the North generally does not show inclination for restructuring…”, he replied;
“No, it is not true. There is nothing called the North. This is part of the problems we have. We also have a general fear (of the so-called North). If you go there, there are so many divisions going on.
“What you ought to say is that whoever has the levers of power today and he is sitting there in the Presidency has shown a disinclination, not the North.
“There is no such thing. If you go and meet somebody from Plateau, he has a different idea about what should happen. If you meet somebody else in Benue, he has a different idea.
“If you meet somebody in Kwara, he has a different idea. If you meet somebody in Niger, he has a different idea. If you go to Kebbi, people have a different idea; they are just so different.
“The point really is that there are two classes of people: Those who are in power and those who are not. Those who are in power want to sustain the advantage they think they have.
“They actually don’t have any advantage and the reason they don’t have any advantage is that if you are the only educated man in a sea of one million uneducated people, in what way does your education help you?
“If you are the only rich person in a place and every other person is not so wealthy and then they have to come and feed off your hands, in what way does that help you? It is when you elevate everybody that you are actually building up your society.
“So, I think what is going on really is that, people who find themselves in position of advantage think that they have to continue to sustain that advantage but everywhere in the world where you have had progress, what you see is that people challenge the status quo.
“If you don’t challenge the status quo, there can’t be any progress. You must always ask yourself “why do you have to”.
Vanguard