- Adebanjo: Nigeria must go back to 1960 Independence constitution
- Utomi: We have been playing the
game of sharing instead of producing - Bakare: Idea of restructuring Nigeria has failed because people are not committed to it
- Kanu: Restructuring cannot work because Nigeria has conflicting, faulty foundations
By Gbenga Abulude (Politics and General Desk)
Eminent personalities and leaders of thought in the country over the weekend marshalled their points on how Nigeria can solve its long term problems by embracing restructuring and true federalism.
The leaders who spoke at a virtual conference said the governance system the country is currently running was no longer sustainable and that Nigeria was overdue for restructuring as they shared their views on nationhood at the forum termed: ‘#EndSARSconsolidation of handshake across the Niger: An interactive session’ held, Saturday.
At the meeting were leader of the Afenifere Socio-Economic group, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Prof Pat Utomi, Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland land, Gani Adams, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, among others.
According to elder statesman, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the country must look back at what worked for it in the past and return to the 1960 Independence Constitution when the regions had autonomy.
He accused the present administration of president Muhammadu Buhari of being seemingly indisposed to various calls from different sections of the country that Nigeria was due for restructuring.
He said the present constitution which was a produced during military regime is faulty and cannot solve the country’s problems.
“My view is that we don’t look into the past. The way forward is for us to join hands together for the unity of this country. It is not the question of self-determination that we are after. Anybody opposing restructuring is an enemy of a united Nigeria.
“If we don’t restructure, this country cannot stay. I am not opposed to self-determination but self-determination is the last resort. We are not going to beg to be a part of Nigeria.
“The government of the day should be reasonable enough to restructure this country on the basis of true federalism. From the onset, we have insisted that we cannot keep this country together in a unitary system of government.
“A lot of problems we are having now are self-inflicted by the northern hegemony. Is Buhari more Fulani than the Sardauna of Sokoto? If we don’t understand what restructuring is, let us go back to the Independence constitution.
“The problem we have now was brought by the military – the military gave us this constitution and imposed state and local governments arbitrarily. Hence, people are cheated. The present system we are using was created by the military.
“All the leaders of this country have been telling Buhari, restructure this country. He remained stubborn and what we have are killings.
“I won’t live in this country under this constitution. I like to warn the Igbo that they are deceiving them that they will give them (Igbo) presidency. They are also deceiving (Asiwaju Bola) Tinubu.
“I want to make it clear again that if you make my son the president under this constitution, I will oppose him. I am an embittered Nigerian… If we agree to an equitable deal, there will be no problem. Give us regional autonomy,” he stated.
Professor of political science, Pat Utomi said he was in support of Adebanjo’s notion and that the leaders of this country should begin to look at how economic development of different regions and geo-political zones can be realised.
He said Nigeria should begin to build production clusters like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) instead of the mentality of states sharing of the federal allocation which is currently in place.
“I can speak of the model of the United Arab Emirates and other models. I find myself supporting Pa Adebanjo. Part of the challenges we have had is that this divide-and-rule politicking has prevented us from focusing on development. The strategy which many of us have suggested is closely related to a decentralised approach.
“As we pointed out, in the UAE, Dubai is one of the emirates and they are all competing. You have Abu Dhabi and they are competing on who would bring the most progress to their people. This was the competitive communalism in Nigeria in the 1950s. I believe that Nigeria should really be thinking in terms of Megalopolis.
“In Nigeria, we have been playing this game of sharing instead of producing. How do we put together production clusters that are globally competitive and build centres of development? This real rubbish about sharing should stop,” Utomi stated.
Former vice-presidential candidate, Pastor Tunde Bakare said he was not in support of self-determination but restructuring in a give-and-take approach.
He said, “There are those who believe we should go our separate ways but honestly I do not subscribe to that view. I have never advocated it. I believe we can restructure Nigeria. If we think it has failed, it is because of the people who are not committed to it.
“Let us be practical. We need a trustful give-and-take. Restructuring is an idea whose time has come. It will come to pass. I believe very soon that any right-thinking leader will know that we are better off together than fighting one another and going our separate ways. If Nigeria can get it right, Africa can get it right.”
Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Otunba Gani Adams, in his remarks, expressed worry that the nation could face severe crisis if the call for restructuring is not heeded.
He said it is a matter of urgency to strategically restructure the country as the youths do not have the patience to wait a long time before leaders of the country heed the yearnings of Nigerians.
He said, “When we talk about restructuring without a strategy, it will be very difficult. We will continue crying for restructuring for another 100 years and our institutions will be destroyed.
“The generation coming behind us may not have the kind of patience that we have. Look at the recent protests they organised.
“They have a seven-point demand – education, health and others.”
He canvassed that “when we say we don’t want this country to break, we don’t want to go our separate ways,”, it is because we love Nigeria and we want it restructured.
But IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, took a divergent position.
He said Nigeria was built on a faulty foundation hence that background will hinder restructuring.
“I respect the divergent views and opinions. One thing that comes across in this debate is the weak position from which the South is tending to, should I say, in debating this restructuring of a thing.
“Restructuring cannot work because Nigeria has conflicting and faulty foundations… We are talking about the disparity in terms of how society should function…”, he added.
Other speakers include Political scientist, Mr Akin Osuntokun, iconic singers, Onyeka Onwenu and Eedris Abdulkareem.
They called for pragmatic leadership, restructuring and protection of the rights of people in every section of the country.
The session was moderated by the Publisher of Ovation Media Group, Chief Dele Momodu, and Maazi Ezeoke.
Recall that there had been various clamour for the federal government to find long lasting solutions to the killings, marginalisation, self determination and other myriad problems of the nation.
Recall that former president Olusegun Obasanjo at a forum of different socio-cultural groups in Abuja, had brought to the fore the need for the federal government to close up the fault lines in the country but he was heavily criticized by the presidency.
Other eminent personalities like Prof Wole Soyinka, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi and the Governors of Ekiti and Kaduna States, Dr Kayode Fayemi and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai also recently called for restructuring of the country.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi in a recent program had proffered ways in which some of the nation’s problems could be addressed.
He noted that there had been a Constitutional Conferences in the past that made recommendations but Government has not attended to the recommendations of the confab.
Akinyemi, who spoke on the way forward to the #EndSARS protests said government should consider implementing the Justice Mohammed Uwais report on electoral reforms and the 2014 national conference report which addressed many of the issues confronting Nigeria.
“We told government because I was part of that conference that the United Nations said Nigeria needs 1.5 million policemen, we have only about 350,000 and we were recommending that the Nigerian government should employ 750,000 more policemen.
“The military also should employ more military men just to soak up the unemployment but at the same time provide security for the country.
“What we’ve seen in the past two weeks is that we don’t have enough men in uniform to guarantee security in this country if every part of the country decides to blow up. So you serve two purposes employment and security and those are things you can do immediately,” he said.
