Restructuring: Buhari gets knocks, kudos

Kudos and knocks have trailed the 57th independence speech by President Muhammadu Buhari, especially his claim that the clamour for restructuring of the polity had been hijacked by elements bent on dismembering the nation.

While he agreed that the agitation for restructuring was legitimate, he directed agitators to resort to the national and state Assemblies, which he said were the only structures constitutionally empowered to restructure the country through constitutional amendment.

According to Buhari: “Recent calls on restructuring, quite proper in a legitimate debate, has let in highly irresponsible groups to call for dismemberment of the country. We cannot and we will not allow such advocacy.

As a young Army officer, I took part from the beginning to the end in our tragic civil war costing about two million lives, resulting in fearful destruction and untold suffering. Those who are agitating for a rerun were not born by 1967 and have no idea of the horrendous consequences of the civil conflict, which we went through.

I am very disappointed that responsible leaders of these communities do not warn their hot-headed youths what the country went through. Those who were there should tell those who were not there, the consequences of such folly. At all events, proper dialogue and any desired constitutional changes should take place in a rational manner, at the national and state Assemblies.

These are the proper and legal fora for national debate, not some lopsided, undemocratic body with predetermined set of objectives.”

While some persons and groups including Afenifere, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abuja-based rights lawyer, Ugochukwu Hanks-Ezekiel and the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) faulted the president’s position on restructuring, others including the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Okoi Obono-Obla threw their weights behind him.

Outspoken lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) described the national day broadcast as disappointing, unpresidential and unreconciliatory. According to him, Buhari left the real issues and pursued trifles.

“The speech was bereft of nobility of statesmanship and devoid of a calm grasp and appraisals of the dire straits Nigeria is currently in.

The broadcast was rabidly narcistic, parochial, nepotic and clannish, as it failed to see anything wrong with the blatant and well reported threats by the Arewa youths to quit fellow Nigerians from their domains.

The speech followed his now well worn out fixation of perceived hatred for the Igbo race, whose leadership he needlessly and needlessly scurrilised and lampooned for allegedly being behind IPOB and other agitations.

I didn’t hear him mention anything about gun-wielding herdsmen that literally vanquish citizens in their own homesteads across Nigeria.

The president celebrated mediocrity and edified his government’s non-performance two and half years down the line.”

Notwithstanding the criticism, presidential aide, Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla said Buhari’s speech adequately and frankly covered the grounds without playing to the gallery.
“President Buhari is candid, frank and straight.

He is not given to playing to the gallery to impress or using subterfuge to hoodwink the country just to score cheap political points.

He is a true leader. There is just no way this country can be restructured other than through the procedure laid down by the Constitution for constitutional amendment. We cannot supplant or discard the present constitution no matter how bad, inelegant or clumsy it is. Otherwise, we are seeking for toppling of the present constitutional order under the guise of restructuring. And the president has vowed that he cannot be a party to such.”

The pan-Yoruba group also faulted Buhari over claim that the clamour for restructuring has been hijacked by those seeking a break up of the country.

Its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin told Daily Sun in a telephone interview that Buhari missed the point arguing that clamour for restructuring of the polity was different from agitations for secession.

“The president should be reminded that restructuring and secession are different. It is very wrong for the president to say that the clamour for restructuring has been hijacked by secessionist.

It is the failure to address the clamour for restructuring that is fueling agitations for secession,” Odumakin stated.

Rather than talking tough, Buhari must embrace dialogue, said the National vice-chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) South East region, Chief Austin Umahi.
“I don’t understand what he meant by the word ‘hijacked. There’s no way we will discuss anything that pertains to Nigeria without putting our leaders into calculation.

There is no way it can be hijacked by people from the outside the leadership of the South East.”

The PDP chieftain who described Igbo as the most peaceful people in the country, pointed out that much as the larger population of Nigerians desired restructuring, the people of the South East were pursuing it with dignity.

“We don’t condone violence; we don’t encourage it and we will continue to discourage it. And most importantly, we don’t believe in violence. If there are some people that are causing violence, it should not be generalised when referring to the zone. The people of the South East are very peaceful,” he said.

But the National Auditor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief George Moughalu said the president, in his speech, was clear about the unity of Nigeria.

“Government is not saying that they are not going to restructure but what we are saying is that you must separate restructuring from dismembering the country. We must separate this because a lot of people think what restructuring means is that we must dismember this country and Mr. President is saying no. The position of the president and the government is that we must reconcile. Nigeria is one united country, we must continue talking. Negotiation is part of life and politics in itself. What the president said is apt.”

The Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA), however, alleged a secret agreement between opponents of restructuring and certain southern politicians to sell a perverted version of restructuring code-named power devolution to the citizens.

According to ECA’s scribe, Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko: “This watered down version of restructuring, which hopes to retain the 774 LGAs and the 36 states structure is provocative and designed to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians.

This northern version which is being marketed by southern hirelings of their northern masters is fake, uninspiring, unworkable which is designed to pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians, will never be acceptable to Nigerians.

“The restructuring Nigerians need and the kind that can save Nigeria, is simply going back to the first republic format of regional governments as federating units under fiscal federalism of derivation formula of the 1960/1993 constitution.”

Also, reacting, Hanks-Ezekiel said Buhari in his speech, merely played the “blame it on someone” card, instead of taking responsibility as leader of the country.

“It is ironic that the same president who stoked the fire of regional agitation with his infamous 5 percent categorisation of the South-east region, will turn around to blame the leaders of the South east for the reactions of the people of that region,” Hanks-Ezekiel stated.