unitary system of government, that the military handed to us, to a federal system of government to ensure security.”
Former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, said restructuring is not about the North against the South.
“Restructuring is decentralising power to make a way from distribution and consuming arrangement for every federating units to increase its fiscal resources for development. The country is on a precipice. No one can predict what will happen on October 1. Any country that cannot boast of security for its citizens and property is not worthy of being called a country. We need to have state and local police to protect the lives of citizens and property. The ruling party has said voters should not vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 because of restructuring, so we are now watching to see whether the All Progressives Congress (APC) will restructure before 2019.”
A former Minister for Information, Labaran Maku, agreed with the consensus on restructuring. He said: “Nigeria needs restructuring. It offers Africa and Africans a great hope if we can reform the structure and its internal powers. The majority of us believe that restructuring will make Nigeria a great country, and these kind of debates are needed to ensure that restructuring works.”
Ayo Adebanjo, a chieftain of Afenifere chastised northern leaders who are opposed to restructuring. “The military introduced this constitution which thrives on a unitary system of government, but you cannot run Nigeria on a military system of government, because we have so many ethnic groups. We have passed that stage where people will try to make us think that restructuring is new. It is not. We must restructure now or the country may not survive. The North does not want to agree on restructuring because they are beneficiaries of the awkwardness of this 1999 constitution which was thrust on us by the military” he said.
General Alani Akinrinade condemned what he described as the deafening silence from most prominent northern elders over the quit notice given to the Igbo living the north before October 1 by northern youths.
He said: “Besides a few northern elders who criticised the northern youths for the quit notice given to the Igbo, I am sad that most of the elders I expected to have condemned it have maintained a deafening silence.”
