Social critic ,Reno Omokri has said that it is wrong for Nigerians to say the country got her independence from England since it was not given on platter of gold .
According to him , “Our Independence was not handed over to us on a platter of gold because the British wanted to leave. No! They very much wanted to stay, especially after oil was discovered in commercial quantities at Oloibiri, in present-day Bayelsa state.
But Nigerians like Funmilayo Ransome Kuti (Fela’s mother), Eniola Soyinka (Professor Wole Soyinka’s mother), Herbert Macaulay, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Mbazulike Amaechi, Anthony Enahoro, Raji Abudara, Ogedegbe Macaulay (Herbert Macaulay’s son), and Mokwugo Okoye, to mention a few, fought them through activism, civil disobedience, and court cases, to achieve this Independence we now have.
Many of those I listed above were arrested for their pro-independence activities. It was not a piece of cake. It was not a gift. It was our fight that the founding fathers took back.
To gain Independence suggests that it was a gift or favour. Today, we are not celebrating what we gained. We are celebrating what we took. Big difference!