Secessionist Agitations and National Security in Nigeria

The idea of freedom has been eloquently expressed by many scholars and writers among which a Catalonian poet, Salvador Espriu, in his book La Pell de Brau (The Bull-Hide, 1968), had stated, ‘…men cannot exist if they are not free’ (Cited in Stein in Successful secessionist movements and the uncertainty of post-secession quality of life. Unpublished Thesis submitted to Oregon State University, 2016). Put differently, this simply means that freedom accords a man the ability to choose the course of his life without undue interference from others or government. The desire to be free manifests itself in many ways, either by assertion, rebellion or by choice. At the political level, this desire has been termed as ‘self-determination’.