History
was once again made penultimate month, precisely on 23rd June 2016,
when the majority of the overall citizens of the United Kingdom (UK)
overwhelmingly voted in favour of the widely nurtured quest for the said
kingdom to leave the European Union (EU) via a referendum. This implies that
currently, the UK is eagerly awaiting the materialization of the anticipated
exit otherwise known as Brexit, though the First Minister of Scotland – Ms.
Nicola Sturgeon has said that Scotland might decline consent for legislation
required to leave the EU.
The awaited British withdrawal from the EU is
a political goal that has been vigorously pursued by various individuals,
advocacy groups, and political parties from across the political spectrum since
the UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC), now called the European
Union (EU), in 1973.
It’s noteworthy that, the UK wasn’t a
signatory to the Treaty of Rome which created the EEC in 1957. The country
subsequently applied to join the organization (EEC) in 1963 and 1967
respectively, but unfortunately both applications were vetoed by the then
President of France – Mr. Charles de Gaulle, probably as a result of a number
of aspects of the Britain’s economy ranging from working practices to
agriculture coupled with the presumed notion that the Britain harboured a ‘deep-seated
hostility’ to any Pan-European project, which made the country incompatible
with Europe at large.
However,
the moment Mr. Charles Gaulle relinquished the French presidency, the UK made a
third application for membership in 1972, which received a successful outcome.
Under the reign of the then UK’s Prime Minister (PM) – Mr. Edward Health who
contested under the British Conservative Party (CP), the European Communities
Act 1972 was enacted; hence, on 1st January 1973, the UK
successfully joined the EEC – also referred to as a ‘Common Market”.
Thereafter, the opposition Labour Party
(LP) led by Harold Wilson contested the British 1974 general election with a
commitment to renegotiate Britain’s terms of membership in the EEC if he became
the PM, and he later emerged victorious at the polls. To this end, in 1975, the
UK held a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EEC. All of the
major political parties and mainstream press supported continuing membership in
the EEC, thus there were significant splits among the members of the ruling
party (LP).
Owing to the split between the strongly
pro-European and anti-European ministers, Mr. Wilson suspended the
constitutional convention of cabinet collective responsibility and allowed
ministers to publicly campaign on either side; hence, only seven out of the
twenty-three members of the cabinet opposed UK’s EEC membership. On 5th
June 1975, the electorate were asked to vote, and therein, every administrative
county in the UK had a majority of the votes except the Shetland Islands and
the Outer Hebrides. Consequently, the UK remained a member of the EEC.
Furthermore, in 2012, Prime Minister
David Cameron insisted that there wouldn’t be a referendum. Under pressure from
many of his Members of Parliament (MPs) and from the rise of the United Kingdom
Independence Party (UKIP), in January 2013, Mr. Cameron announced that the
Conservative government would hold an in-out referendum on EU membership before
the end of 2017 if reelected as the British PM in 2015. Later on, the CP won
the 2015 general election. Soon afterwards, the EU Referendum Act 2015 was introduced
into the UK parliament to enable the intended referendum.
In a speech to the House of Commons on 22nd
February 2016, PM Cameron declared a referendum date of 23rd June
2016 and set out a legal framework for withdrawal from the EU in circumstances
where there was a referendum majority vote to leave, citing Article 50 of the
Lisbon Treaty. He spoke on an intention to trigger the Article 50 process
immediately, following a leave-vote majority and of the ‘two-year time’ period
to negotiate the arrangements for exit as stipulated in the EU rules.
Contrary to Mr. Cameron’s wish, the result
from the scheduled referendum was that the UK had voted to leave the EU by 52%
to 48% with a turnout of about 71.8%, which were about 30 million British people.
It was noted to be the highest turnout in a UK-wide vote since the 1992 general
election in the country. Due to the devastating attribute of the unexpected
outcome, Mr. David William Cameron voluntarily relinquished his position as the
PM to Mrs. Theresa Mary May – the incumbent British Prime Minister, on
Wednesday July 13, 2016.
It’s equally worth noting that it was the
UKIP, which won the last European elections, that campaigned for Britain’s exit
from the EU. Though, about half of Conservative MPs, several Labour MPs, as
well as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) were also in support of leaving.
Their major reason for the Brexit was that, Britain was being held back by the
EU, which they said imposed too many rules on business and charged billions of
pounds annually in membership fees for just little in return. They also wanted
Britain to take back full control of its borders toward reducing immigration.
The last time I checked, since the Brexit
campaign got a majority vote at the July 23 referendum, the prime seekers of a
sovereign state of ‘Biafra’ have equally been soliciting for ‘Biafrexit’ via a
referendum. The agitated or deeply perturbed ‘Biafraexit’ that is currently
wearing a pathetic physiognomy has been calling for a rescue from various
well-spirited individuals cum groups across the globe towards ensuring that a
referendum is held in its favour.
Lest I forget, there are several factors
the Biafran agitators who are calling for a referendum need to consider. They
must note that the EU is a bloc whilst Nigeria is a country. Every existing
bloc must have an Act that stipulates how a Member State can honourably take a
permanent leave when necessary, and the EU isn’t exceptional.
Secondly, there is no section of the Nigerian
1999 Constitution, as amended, that permits a referendum or mandates the exit
of any interested group. The constitution of most countries in the world
likewise that of Nigeria, pays greater attention on how a formidable and
undiluted unity among the overall citizens can be actualized. Thus, the
paramount aim of the President or Leader of any country, constitutionally, is
to ensure oneness among the citizens regardless of the circumstance. This is
the reason the only factor that can result to the secession of a certain
aggrieved group/region is war. And, obviously, no sane president/leader would
like a war to take place under his/her watch, let alone the citizenry of the
country. Those who witnessed a glimpse of the Nigerian Civil War would attest
to the enormity of the dangers inherent.
To this end, the agitated ‘Biafrexit’
needs to embrace a rethink. Rather than seeking for a referendum, which is
seemingly far-fetched, or indulging in anything that could lead to genocide or
massacre, it’s required to participate in peace talks. Thus, the leaders of the
movement ought to borrow a leaf from cognoscenti toward arriving at a success
room. Think about it!
Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor
(TheMediaAmbassador)-Public Affairs analyst & Civil Rights activist-
Chief Executive Director, Centre for Counselling, Research
& Career Development - Owerri
_____________________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
Twitter: @mediambassador
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