"Restructuring My Foot", Ohaneze, PANDEF, Others are Dreamers – Gov Shettima

The Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, has described the clamour for restructuring Nigeria’s federation as an effort made towards “treating the symptoms, not the disease.”

According to him, restructuring the minds of the people and the quality of governance was more important than the issue of devolution of power.

He stated this during a chat with the media at the weekend.

Shettima said: “My own take on this restructuring debate is that we are treating the symptoms, not the disease.

“Restructuring my foot; let’s restructure our minds, let’s restructure our quality of governance. When people are talking of artificial intelligence, when others are talking of robotics engineering, of nanotechnology, we are talking of restructuring the federation; our problem is not an issue of devolution of powers, let’s be very honest.

“Our problem, as Chinua Achebe rightly encapsulated, is largely that of leadership. Leadership that will put the nation first is much more important than restructuring the nation. Let’s restructure our minds. Let’s restructure our quality of leadership,” Shettima added

On the public perception of federal government’s anti-graft war, the governor said President Muhammadu Buhari was the leader Nigeria needs to overcome its challenges, with respect to the anti-corruption campaign.

“No matter what you will accuse Buhari of, nobody can accuse Buhari of corruption. He’s a stabilising factor in this country, he’s a man of impeccable credentials,” he said.

Amid speculations over the President’s decision to contest the presidential election in 2019, Shettima believes President Buhari is the only one who has a say on such decision.

He, however, said that nobody can force the President to contest in 2019, neither can anyone preventing for running for a second term in office.

“That decision should be made by the President; nobody should ask him not to contest, in the same vein nobody should push him to contest. He has his own health to take care of, he’s not a young man by any standard.

“The nation truly needs the wisdom, the integrity, the commitment of the likes of Buhari but believe me, whatever decision he takes, we are solidly behind him,” he said.