- Backs Nigeria’s Return To 1963 Constitution, Restructuring
A founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Tanko Yakasai, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration has proven him correct on his decades-old beliefs that the President does not have what it takes to take Nigeria out of the woods.
According to 94-year-old Yakasai, after spending five years in office, President Buhari was yet to prove him wrong that he is competent to oversee the affairs of the country.
The elder statesman made this known while appearing at a video Conference titled:“The coronavirus pandemic, is it time to re-evaluate the political structure?” The conference was organized by Governance index over the weekend with close to 100 participants across the globe.
Yakasai said, “I have never supported Buhari. I have been against him because I felt he was not competent to handle the job, and I have been proven right.”
He said when President Muhammadu Buhari was elected, he was hoping that he will be able to at least fix the power sector, that there are no signs that the electricity issue would be addressed by the Buhari administration.
Yakasai said:”When President Muhammadu Buhari was elected , I was hoping that at least, we will get stable power all over the country. This is his fifth year. He has only two more active years because the last one year will be for election.”
Also, the elder statesman said he would support the re-introduction of the 1963 constitution as a way of finding solution to Nigeria’s political restructuring challenges.
He said the current constitution is not working and protested against insinuation that the current political arrangement favours the North.
Yakasai declared that those clamouring for political restructuring have failed to come forward with a blueprint of their ideas so that other people can reason along with them. He added that he is not afraid of restructuring.
His words: “I am not afraid of restructuring. What I am saying is that I want to know from the sponsors of this idea what we need to put down for Nigerians. I don’t see any reason to be afraid. I have never been afraid of an idea that I find does not tally with mine. I will propose mine, and if somebody thinks that something is wrong and not working, is it not for him to articulate a substitute in place of the one that is not working?
“Nigeria has been operating this federation for more than 60 years even before we gained independence. Now, if we can operate something for 60 years and that thing is not working, is it not fair to tell the people that this is why we feel the thing is not working?
“Up till now, people are saying restructuring is good, but they have never told anybody what is the benefit of restructuring. I swear to God, I will support going back to 1963 constitution, but I don’t want to take people for granted that under the present arrangement, the North have advantage in terms of representation in the National Assembly. Enough of that, we are talking about the future of our children, grandchildren and the future generation of this country,” Yakasai said.
