Chief Ayo Adebanjo, a leader of Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has advocated a restructuring of Nigeria that would allow each region of the country to have a distinct Constitution to reflect the autonomy and differences among the regional units.
He made the call in Lagos while speaking at a political colloquium yesterday
He said: “Nigeria is running a unitary system of government; you cannot run Nigeria as a military system of government considering the ethnic groups. We have passed that stage.
“Don’t let anybody tell you lies, the word restructuring is not a strange or new word. All we are fighting for today dated back to 1954.”
Noting the role of the military in dismantling the autonomy of the various regions, he said: “It was the military that destructured Nigeria. Awolowo fought to have an arrangement that ensured a true federal system, he never went to the Federal Government to ask for subsidy. Each region had its constitution. Western Region had its Agent-General in Britain. Regions built their own universities. Obasanjo federalised the universities.”
“Nigeria is running a unitary system of government; you cannot run Nigeria as a unitary system of government considering the ethnic groups. We have passed that stage.
“Let us restructure now, without it, there would be no Nigeria. It must be now, not in 2019,” he added.
