AFENIFERE, OHANAEZE INSIST ON RESTRUCTURING BEFORE 2019 POLLS TO AVOID BREAKUP

AFENIFERE, OHANAEZE INSIST ON RESTRUCTURING BEFORE 2019 POLLS TO AVOID BREAKUP

The demand for the restructuring of the country has continued to mount despite opposition in some quarters over the demand.

This was as prominent Nigerians both representatives of Afenifere and Ohanaeze on Thursday converged in Lagos, insisting that Nigeria must be restructured before the coming 2019 general election, in order to prevent the country from ceasing to exist.

This position was made at a colloquium sponsored by one of the country’s leading social groups, Island Club with the theme “Restructuring: Challenges, implications and the Way forward.” Many other prominent Nigerians who spoke at the event maintained that only restructuring will proffer solution to the nationality problem currently facing the country.

Some of the eminent Nigerians at the gathering include former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade (retd); Afenifere Chieftains, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Yinka Odumakin; immediate past governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and former Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku.

There were also former deputy governor of Ebonyi State, Prof. Chigozie Ogbu, who represented President-General of Ohaneze, Dr. John Nwodo; Niger Delta activist, AnnKio Briggs; and notable historian and writer, Prof. Adebanji Akintoye, who was lead discussant.

The speakers were responding to the lead paper presented by Prof. Akintoye.

Akintoye had said in his paper presentation, “Virtually my audience today are highly respected citizens of our country, and have probably said or written some things about the reason the Nigerian federation, as it is today, needs to be restructured urgently.

“Our country is not one nation. It is a country of very many nations, some of which rank among the largest in the world. The accumulated wisdom of the human race has established that a country that is made up in this way, the best structure is a federation and not the unitary system that it has tacitly operated.

“Another reason we need to restructure the Nigerian federation is what we may call the need for productivity. Productivity demands that in a healthy federation, each federating unit shall control its God-given resources for the good of the people.”

In his response Afenifere leader, Adebanjo said, “Nigeria is running a unitary system of government; you cannot run Nigeria as a military system of government considering the ethnic groups. We have passed that stage. Don’t let anybody tell you lies, the word restructuring is not a strange or new word. All we are fighting for today dated back to 1954.”

He further said, “Nigeria is running a unitary system of government; you cannot run Nigeria as a unitary system of government considering the ethnic groups. We have passed that stage. Let us restructure now, without it, there would be no Nigeria. It must be now, not in 2019.”

While Mimiko and Maku also emphasized on the need to restructure Nigeria, Ann-Kio Briggs, a Niger Delta activist, described Nigeria as a fast-moving train without brake.

Briggs said, “We are still going on that train handed over to us by the British and we will soon crash. In order not to crash, we need to restructure. All regions must come together and agree on restructuring and everybody must say what restructuring means to them, and we must agree on restructuring before 2019 election.”

This is coming just as the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, allegedly asked Nigerians during an event in Minna, Niger State, early in the week to forget restructuring demand and instead begin canvassing for the devolution of economy.

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