Act On Agitations Over Restructuring – Groups Urge President Buhari

Act On Agitations Over Restructuring – Groups Urge President Buhari

Socio-cultural groups have advised President Buhari to act on the agitations over restructuring of the country.

Afenifere and the Ijaw National Congress, in separate interviews on Sunday with newsmen said restructuring, among other issues, was what they expected the President to immediately address.

Although there had been calls for restructuring before Buhari travelled out of the country on May 7, the agitation had increased with groups asking Nigerians of other tribes to leave their areas before October 1.

Afenifere said the best decision Buhari could take was to facilitate the process of restructuring the country, adding that Buhari might be the last President of a united Nigeria if he failed to respond to the yearnings of the people.

The National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said, “Looking at the agitations for restructuring, nearly every section of the country has waded in, including former heads of state and   a former Vice–President. He (Buhari) must facilitate a process of addressing this matter if he did not want to be the last President of Nigeria.”

Odumakin observed that the President had failed to record any meaningful result in his anti-corruption campaign and other programmes, noting that he could, however, achieve success with restructuring the country.

Asked about the opposition of the North, particularly the North-West to restructuring, Afenifere said the region could not hold the nation to ransom.

Odumakin said, “To save the republic; to keep this country together, he (Buhari) must facilitate the process of addressing restructuring now.

“In the last two years, he has attempted everything in the book, he did not record success. In the anti-corruption war, only one person was convicted and the Appeal Court has quashed it. So, the only thing he can do is to start the process of uniting the country where everyone would have confidence.”

The INC said the 16-point agenda by the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, which was submitted to the Federal Government, had a link with restructuring.

INC spokesman, Mr. Miebaka Tamunomiebi, stated that in spite of the fact that the Ijaw were the fourth largest ethnic group in the country, they had not been getting what they deserved from the Federal Government.

“Our position on restructuring has been in the public domain for a very long time. The INC is part of the 16-point agenda submitted to the Presidency.

“The basic clamour is that people have not been getting what they should get and if there is any clamour for that to change, we are at the forefront of it.

“We are the fourth largest tribe in Nigeria, but it has not reflected in any of the thing they (FG) have done. It has not reflected in state creation; it has not reflected in anything. Our position has always been the same; that we have been short-changed in the Nigerian business.”