A former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has said that if Nigeria cannot be restructured, let it disintegrate into smaller independent entities.
Fani-Kayode said this in reaction to the National Assembly’s rejection of the proposal to devolve more constitutional powers from the centre to the states which would have kicked-off the process of restructuring Nigeria in earnest.
He urged Nigerians to understand that restructuring the country can never be achieved through the 1999 constitution or the current National Assembly.
According to him, the system was rigged and designed to protect and preserve itself, adding that and the core north effectively had a power of veto in the National Assembly which it will always exercise in order to block any form of restructuring.
Fani-Kayode wrote on his Facebook page: “For those commentators in this forum who have never participated in or understand Nigerian politics but who tend to speak and act as if they are the only ones that are sincere about restructuring I have the following to say.
“I hope you have learnt a lesson or two from the fact that during the constitutional review exercise that took place in the last few days the Senate has refused to devolve power from the centre and initiate the process for genuine restructuring in our country.
“These are the hard facts, hidden obstacles and bitter realities about the struggle that some of us that are in the field have been facing and complaining about for the last 25 years!
“From henceforth let it be clearly understood by all, including those that desire restructuring but who have never participated in Nigerian politics, that we can never achieve it through the existing constitutional structure or the National Assembly.
“This is because the system is rigged and designed to protect and preserve itself and because the core north effectively has a power of veto in the National Assembly which it will always exercise in order to block any form of restructuring. It is this point that people like Nnamdi Kanu and other ethnic nationalist leaders came to appreciate long ago and it explains their ‘hardline’ posture on these issues.
“The bottom line is as follows: restructuring will not be given to us freely or on a platter of gold.
“It must be taken and if necessary it must be taken by force.
“Finally mark this: if it does not eventually come then I say let us cease to be one nation.
“I would rather live as a free man in an independent Oduduwa Republic than continue to live and die as a slave in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
