MIXED reactions on Sunday, October 1, trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence Day broadcast, especially on the call for the restructuring of the country.

In the speech, Buhari had: “Recent calls on re-structuring, quite proper in a legitimate debate,” have “let in highly irresponsible groups to call for dismemberment of the country. We cannot and we will not allow such advocacy.”

Reacting, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State said that restructuring is the only way out and expressed disappointment that some leaders misconstrued the issue to mean secession. He warned that in absence of restructuring, there might be an implosion.

Dickson, who described those calling for restructuring as the ‘’true patriots of Nigeria,’’ said the current political structure of the country is not sustainable.

The governor, who spoke on Sunday in an interview with newsmen shortly after a special thanksgiving service to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the creation of Bayelsa State and 57th independence anniversary of Nigeria at the King of Glory Chapel at the Government House, said: “My view is that there is an urgent national imperative for us to review the country. Maybe some people have problems with the word restructuring, but we have to re-examine our nation’s foundation and see how we can make necessary adjustments that will promote a more stable and prosperous Nigeria.

‘’The structure of the country as it is now is not sustainable. Very often, a number of our leaders misconstrue the call for restructuring to mean secession, no, those calling for restructuring are the patriots of Nigeria because we want to lay a foundation for a Nigeria that will last for the next 50, 100 and 200 years and beyond.

‘’Those people forget that in the next 10 to 20 years, the country will be one of the most populous on the face of the earth. You can’t have that kind of high density human population, arguing every day and every time about the injustices and imbalances, there will be an implosion.”

He also called for Nigerians to have a consensus on the subject. “If there is any problem at all, it is how do we go about it? Not whether we should attempt restructuring or review or not. That, to me, is taken for granted and I am happy President Buhari said he was not opposed to restructuring.’’

In the same vein, Tunde Bakare, a senior pastor and the serving overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, disagreed with Buhari that recent calls for restructuring had provoked irresponsible agitations for the dismemberment of the country.

Bakare, who spoke on the state of the nation, on Sunday, October 1, said contrary to the views of the president, “it is the refusal to consider the need to address the issue that is causing crisis.”

According to him: “It is like the president has reduced the call for restructuring to naira and kobo by focusing on the area (Niger Delta that produces the oil) that lays the golden egg as if other areas calling for restructuring have no voice.”

Bakare, who was the running mate to Buhari in the 2011 presidential election under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, said while he agreed that no responsible leader would encourage the dismemberment of Nigeria, the president’s statement could further infuriate other leaders who were genuinely advocating restructuring for true federalism, equity, fairness and justice in the system.

Besides, the pastor said: “The clamour for restructuring some years ago was the exclusive lingo of pro-democracy groups like the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, the Pro-National Conference Organisation, PRONACO, and The Patriots. The leading individual voices in this call emerged mainly from the southern part of the country.

“However, in more recent times, leaders from the northern part of the country have increasingly lent their voices to this call. From former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who has aired this opinion since around 2012, to a former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, and, most surprisingly, former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babanginda, the call for restructuring appears to be reaching a tipping point.”

He added that despite the fact that the restructuring of the polity was implied in the manifesto of the APC, the government had, for a long time, been silent on the matter. He added that after much evasion, the APC, two months ago, eventually constituted a 10-member committee headed by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to address the increased agitations for restructuring.

According to him, what restructuring means is to change the way an entity is organised or arranged.

In a similar reaction, Afenifere, the Yoruba socio cultural group, said the earlier the government embraces restructuring, the better.

Yinka Odumakin, the spokesman of Afenifere, in an interview on Sunday, said the refusal of the government to heed the call to restructure was responsible for the rising agitations and not the call for restructuring. Odumakin urged the president to listen to the counsel of well meaning Nigerians on the matter.

However, Tanko Yakassai, an elder statesman, applauded the president’s position on restructuring.

Yakassai said he was impressed with Buhari for choosing not to take sides with either the antagonists or the protagonists of restructuring.

According to Yakassai, there is little the president can do on the issue as the power to restructure the country is vested in the National Assembly in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

– Oct. 2, 2017 @ 08:55 GMT |