Afenifere blow hot restructure Nigeria before it's too late
A pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the country as soon as possible to avoid catastrophe.
In a statement released in a monthly meeting in Akure, Ondo state, the group said it disagrees with President Buhari's recent comment that the issue of restructuring should be left solely in the hands of National Assembly and the Council of State, Tribune reports.
The statement reads: “We are not impressed by the president’s broadcast after his return, especially his stand on the restructuring which, he said, is a matter only for the National Assembly and the Council of State.
“We do not agree that the sovereignty in the land rests with these two bodies but sovereignty rests with the people and the people, therefore, must be the one to determine the way forward for the country in crisis.
“We believe at this point now that we need a constitution assembly elected by the people of Nigeria to deal with the question of restructuring, so that the country can be put on the sound footing.
“By restructuring, we mean that Nigeria at the moment is a dysfunctional country sliding towards the edge of the precipice with crimes rising day by day, the economy in a parlous state, and the forces of disintegration have been let loose, all the good things that are made for good living are beyond our people and the prices of food today in Nigeria is at a an eight year high."
They said: “It is clear at this point that we cannot resolve any of the problems confronting Nigeria today except we restructure and, by restructuring, Nigeria should go back to the 1966 constitutional model that guaranteed that all section of Nigeria live under a federal constitution with which they fulfil the aspiration and their development, productivity and accountability.
“It is only author of confusion that are saying today that restructuring means different thing to different people, but there is only one definition of restructuring.
“Nigeria must move from a unitary constitutional arrangement to a federal constitutional arrangement as we had in the First Republic, any other thing outside that is running from the issue.
“For those who also think that a restructured Nigeria would not change what was on ground in terms of lopsidedness and the question of leadership in various state, we say to them that a restructured Nigeria will deal with productivity and not sharing.
“It is because we are doing sharing now that is why we have erected all kind of structure to enable cheating and domination but we want to go back to productivity under a restructured Nigeria, where every section of Nigeria would be managing what they have on their soil and they will pay tax to the centre and there will be no need for anybody constructing any structure to cheat any other person.
“Secondly leadership will be different from what we have now, because politics under restructured Nigeria will be about service like we have in the First Republic and not going to be about using politics to make money or using as a trade, the structure will change under a restructured Nigeria."
In a statement released in a monthly meeting in Akure, Ondo state, the group said it disagrees with President Buhari's recent comment that the issue of restructuring should be left solely in the hands of National Assembly and the Council of State, Tribune reports.
The statement reads: “We are not impressed by the president’s broadcast after his return, especially his stand on the restructuring which, he said, is a matter only for the National Assembly and the Council of State.
“We do not agree that the sovereignty in the land rests with these two bodies but sovereignty rests with the people and the people, therefore, must be the one to determine the way forward for the country in crisis.
“We believe at this point now that we need a constitution assembly elected by the people of Nigeria to deal with the question of restructuring, so that the country can be put on the sound footing.
“By restructuring, we mean that Nigeria at the moment is a dysfunctional country sliding towards the edge of the precipice with crimes rising day by day, the economy in a parlous state, and the forces of disintegration have been let loose, all the good things that are made for good living are beyond our people and the prices of food today in Nigeria is at a an eight year high."
They said: “It is clear at this point that we cannot resolve any of the problems confronting Nigeria today except we restructure and, by restructuring, Nigeria should go back to the 1966 constitutional model that guaranteed that all section of Nigeria live under a federal constitution with which they fulfil the aspiration and their development, productivity and accountability.
“It is only author of confusion that are saying today that restructuring means different thing to different people, but there is only one definition of restructuring.
“Nigeria must move from a unitary constitutional arrangement to a federal constitutional arrangement as we had in the First Republic, any other thing outside that is running from the issue.
“For those who also think that a restructured Nigeria would not change what was on ground in terms of lopsidedness and the question of leadership in various state, we say to them that a restructured Nigeria will deal with productivity and not sharing.
“It is because we are doing sharing now that is why we have erected all kind of structure to enable cheating and domination but we want to go back to productivity under a restructured Nigeria, where every section of Nigeria would be managing what they have on their soil and they will pay tax to the centre and there will be no need for anybody constructing any structure to cheat any other person.
“Secondly leadership will be different from what we have now, because politics under restructured Nigeria will be about service like we have in the First Republic and not going to be about using politics to make money or using as a trade, the structure will change under a restructured Nigeria."
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