Friday Olokor, Gbenga Adeniji and
Toluwani Eniola
Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation,
Afenifere, on Monday carpeted Vice-
President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), for his
criticisms of the calls for the restructuring
of Nigeria, saying Osinbajo missed the
point.
Osinbajo had said on Sunday that the call
for the restructuring of Nigeria was not
sensible as it would not make any
difference in the country.
According to the group, the VP “may have
been under pressure” from the Presidency
to support “upholders of the status quo.”
Afenifere regretted that the latest
comment against restructuring came from
Osinbajo, who is from the South-West,
which had always made a strong point for
the restructuring of Nigeria.
The position of Afenifere was contained in
a statement by its National Publicity
Secretary, Yinka Odumakin.
Also, a former Governor of the old
Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife,
believed Osinbajo lacked a proper
understanding of the problems besetting
the country.
The ex-governor added, “I am not sure the
Vice-President was heard rightly. But if he
actually said that, he cannot be right. Does
he want to join President (Muhammadu)
Buhari against the whole country?
“Restructuring is what will keep us
together in view of the prevailing economic
challenges. It will reduce the cost of
governance. It makes our diversity to be
positive. It is either we return to the six
(three) regional structures or 12 regional
units.
“There have been agitations from the
North, the South and even the Middle Belt
are all clamouring for restructuring.
Restructuring is an idea in which Nigerians
have agreed is the solution to the
problems posed by our dysfunctional
federalism. All are clamouring for
restructuring; so Osinbajo cannot be right.”
Afenifere added, “Yes, there is a minority
that is insisting that we must continue the
way we are just like the minders of some
empires that have disappeared from the
world map did.
“The Vice-President is free to cast his lot
with this group even when silence could
have been golden but he should at least try
to acquaint himself with the issues so
people are not wondering ‘what are we
talking and what is he saying.”
The Yoruba think tank therefore advised
people, who seek high offices, to ensure
that they were not far from issues that
shaped their political environment and pay
due attention to civic education.
The statement read in part, “The Vice-
President in the faux pas also argued that
if states were given half of the resources
of the Federal Government, it would not
make any difference and that all we need
is to diversify into agriculture.
“While we understand that the learned
professor, who is from the zone that has
been loudest in this call, may have come
under pressure to lend his voice to the
upholders of the status quo that has
brought Nigeria to this sorry pass, we
would like to respectfully admonish him to
be sure-footed on the subject before he
speaks next time.
“He misses the entire debate by engaging
in the reductionist argument, narrowing the
whole issue to taking more money from
the Federal Government to the states. Yes,
fiscal federalism is part of the argument
but the issue goes beyond the monthly
Federal Allocation Committee.”
Odumakin said the central plank of
restructuring was for Nigeria to go back to
true practice of federalism wherein,
mineral resources that abound in all states
would be freed from the exclusive list so
that states would move into prosperity.
He said this would free the states from
“reporting at Osinbajo’s office for bailout
from a centre that only corners what
belongs to the states.”
Afenifere stated that beyond resources, the
country had been reeling under crimes
while the single police system currently in
place had proved incapable of dealing with
the situation.
The organisation said, “When you listen to
commissioners of police lamenting at the
scenes of crime these days, you will think
they are part of passersby terrified by the
horrors of crime. It is clear we need multi-
level policing to combat crime and have
effective policing.
“From the federal, down to states and local
governments, we are bogged down with
bloated bureaucracies that consume as
much as 90 per cent of available resources
and with little or nothing left for
development. We must address how long
we want to travel with this culture of
waste and to see if we can deliver better
governance with a manageable
architecture.
“The question of diversification is a point
that advocates of restructuring have
canvassed as it makes no sense for a
country as vast in resources like Nigeria to
depend on a mono-product economy. It is
part of restructuring we are talking about
and not an alternative to it.”
ACF misleading Buhari, says ARG
In its contribution, the Afenifere Renewal
Group faulted the statement credited to
the Arewa Consultative Forum expressing
support for Buhari’s position that Nigeria’s
unity was not negotiable.
The group in a statement by its Chairman,
Mr. Olawale Oshun, asserted that neither
Buhari nor ACF loves Nigeria more than
those advocating the re-negotiation of
what bound the component units together
to make up Nigeria.
It stated that the unity of the country was
only sustainable by voluntary agreement of
the component ethnic nationalities.
ARG added, “In our view, the problem has
more to do with President Buhari’s conduct
– utterances and perceived lopsided
appointments – which appears to portray
him as a North-centric President instead of
a pan-Nigeria President.
“Both the President and the ACF need to
take lessons on managing an all inclusive,
pan-Nigerian government. We wonder on
what consensus or authority the so-termed
non-negotiable unity of Nigeria stands. Is it
based on government’s ability to silence all
dissenters or the capability to manage a
diverse society in a manner that makes
every component proud?”
The group, which said Nigeria was
envisioned by its founding fathers as a
federal republic, added that sadly its
governance structure, as dictated by its
constitution, was akin to that of a unitary
state.
“Hence, the insistence of ACF and by
extension the President to keep the
provisions of Nigeria’s constitution from
being renegotiated is a cause of many
unsolvable agitations in the country.
These agitations can only be managed
successfully and sustainably when all
Nigerians appreciate that they need one
another to bequeath a strong country to
the coming generations,” ARG noted.
Besides, it said the Yoruba would never
agree to become slaves in their country,
stressing that the peaceful agitation
coming from their space on the
restructuring of Nigeria, as against the
violent agitations coming from other areas,
was to carefully underscore their belief in
peaceful change.
It added, “All, who wish Nigeria well, align
with Prof. Wole Soyinka’s assertion that
Nigeria’s unity is “bloody well negotiable
and we had better negotiated it…not even
at conferences, but every day in our
conduct…”
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