By ‘Dotun Akintomide
The options available to voters in the 2019 general elections should present in itself a serious cause of concern to Nigerians as the nation remains stranded between its ugly past and the unfulfilled promises of the current regime, human rights activist, Femi Falana had said.
He said he is convinced that the programmes and manifestoes of the ruling party and the mainstream opposition political parties cannot take Nigeria to the Promised Land.
Falana worried that Nigerians are stranded in the desert on what choice to make between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
“The Minister of Information and the spokesperson for the Buhari administration, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has cautioned Nigerians not to make the mistake of returning to Egypt by voting for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
“Although the Minister did not say whether the All Progressive Congress (APC) is actually taking the Nigerian people to the Promised Land it is indisputable that we are currently stranded in the desert,” he said.
Falana made this statement on Wednesday in Lagos as Guest Speaker at the 19th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture themed: Nigeria’s unity – matters arising.
In his lecture, speaking on restructuring, especially the recent debate between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Falana said those who cornered the nation’s commonwealth should not be involved in the issue.
“A leading PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has become one of the leading proponents of restructuring. But his support for restructuring has not addressed the crucial issue of the redistribution of the national wealth.
“After all, in his capacity as the nation’s vice-president and chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, Alhaji Abubakar presided over the restructuring of the nation’s economy through the liquidation of public assets and the privatization of the commanding height of the economy.
“The nation cannot be seriously restructured without equitable redistribution of wealth. Therefore, those who have cornered our commonwealth should not be allowed to talk of restructuring in vacuo,” he said.
The senior lawyer went further to say the country has always been restructured by the ruling class and that the current structure was imposed by the fiat of military dictators, which he said cannot be sustained.
“No doubt, the country is ripe for restructuring or power devolution but it cannot guarantee unity and political stability without the democratization of powers and equitable redistribution of the commonwealth along egalitarian lines.
“In other words, the campaign for restructuring should encompass the decentralization and democratization of political and economic powers which have been privatized by all factions of the ruling class,” Falana said.
