The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and the Pan Niger Delta Development Forum (PANDEF) have hit back at President Muhammadu Buhari over his comment on those calling for the restructuring of the country.
The groups argued that restructuring is in the best interest of Nigeria and its citizens, as against the current status quo.
The PDP, Afenifere and PANDEF were reacting to the dismissal of the calls by the President during the launch of the Kudirat Abiola Sabon Gari Peace Foundation in Zaria, Kaduna State at the weekend.
Buhari, represented at the event by the Executive Secretary, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Alhaji Mohammed Shehu, had described the advocates of restructuring and secession as “not only naive but mischievously dangerous.”
However, the PDP, in a statement on Sunday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, faulted the stand of the president, describing Buhari’s remarks as arrogant, dictatorial, and inflammatory.
He explained that restructuring and national dialogue had become imperative and more compelling for the corporate existence and continued survival of Nigeria.
The party therefore cautioned the President against pushing the nation towards the precipice.
The statement reads in part: “It is appalling, and to say the least, despicable, that Mr. President and his party (All Progressives Congress), that came to power in 2015 on the promise of restructuring, have not only reneged, in utter duplicity towards Nigerians, but also turned around, six years after, to label restructuring as warfare and Nigerians demanding for it as mischievously dangerous.
“President Buhari should be tutored to know that even the quest for an efficient local government system as well as an effective judiciary, which he alluded to as a focus, can only be achieved through a constitutional restructuring that directly confers and vests the required powers and control in them.
“Only recently, President Buhari confessed how he asked some state governors who came to him on issues of security to go back to their respective states and face the challenge.
“The amendment or alteration of the constitution to permit state police as widely demanded by Nigerians is, therefore, a form of restructuring that will adjust our policing system without creating a war”.
Afenifere, on its part, said it was stunned that in spite of Governors and former Nigerian leaders lending their weights to the calls for restructuring, Buhari was thinking otherwise.
Afenifere, through its Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, said: “We are at a critical stage where children, particularly in states with the highest population of children out of school in the world can no longer go to school at all for fear of being kidnapped for ransom.
The Chief Edwin Clark led Pan Niger Delta Development Forum (PANDEF) has said that the comment is an indictment on Buhari and his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Besides, the group alleged that the president and his party are afraid of restructuring because they are benefiting from the flawed military imposed 1999 Constitution.
PANDEF in a statement on Sunday said for the president to have sanctioned the statement credited to him speaks a volume.
The statement which was signed by Ken Robinson, National publicity Secretary of the group said the comment “speaks to the fact that they are either dishonest or incoherent and confused.”
He further added, “The President’s statement indicts not only his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC but himself, as well. It speaks to the fact that they are either dishonest or incoherent and confused. How could a President whose party constituted a Committee on restructuring that was chaired by one of his Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, make such comments? The Governor el-Rufai Committee concluded its assignment and submitted a report to the party, of which the President is the supposed leader, over two years ago.
“That the President could make such comments, though, through a representative, at the launch of a Peace Foundation in Zaria, Kaduna State, reflects the core of the nation’s problems at this time That he could threaten war and the destruction of livelihoods of Nigerians shows that this presidency is insensitive, callous, and doesn’t care about the unity and future of Nigeria.
“And the so-called Executive Secretary of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr. Shehu Mohammed Bello, could afford to voice the prattle remarks on behalf Mr. President because he is aware of their crooked agenda; to perpetuate the subjugation and gross injustice against the rest of the country. A situation whereby every strategic executive position in the nation’s public sector has to be occupied by a Northern. Of which the said Mr Shehu Mohammed Bello is a prime beneficiary.
“They are against restructuring because they are benefiting from the flawed military imposed 1999 Constitution.
“Every month, the 19 Northern states receive a minimum of 57% of 100% of oil revenue to which they CONTRIBUTE 0%. While the South South which CONTRIBUTES 87%, receives less than 20%
“Out of Nigeria’s 774 LGAs, the 19 Northern states have 419 LGAs while the 17 Southern states have 357 LGAs.
“Every month, the 419 LGAs of the 19 northern states, with insignificant contribution, receive 54.9% of revenue available to Local Government Areas in the country. While the 357 LGAs of the 17 southern states receive 45.1% of what they contribute almost 100%. Meanwhile, they restrict the gold and other minerals in the north to themselves, and plunder the Oil and Gas in the Niger Delta with their cronies. That is the Nigeria they want to be sustained. WE ARE SAYING ENOUGH OF THAT.
“They can easily refer Nigerians to the National Assembly and fantasize about due process because they know the membership of the national assembly is also, like everything else in Nigeria, skewed and lopsided in their favour. Out of the total number of 360 Members of the House of Representatives, the South has 169, while the North has 191.
“Perhaps, they need to be informed that the primary issues are not local government autonomy and judiciary independence. It is nauseating to even hear them, brazenly, talk about judicial independence, with the administration’s record of reckless disregard for the rule of law. The fundamental issue is that there is an over-concentration of power at the centre; there are 68 items exclusive to the federal government in the 1999 Constitution. That is the problem!
“Nigeria is in distress but the federal government has maintained the ostrich policy; refusing to accept the obvious, rather choosing to, un-presidentially, disparage patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians who proffer suggestions to resolve the challenges confronting the nation. Just like the ancient writers inferred, they have eyes but they don’t see, they have ears but they don’t hear. The stark reality is that if we do not restructure Nigeria, the country will restructure itself.”
