Confusion, anger as Buhari, APC prevaricate over restructuring…

President Muhammadu Buhari in his New Year broadcast restated his known aversion to national discourse on the political architecture of the country. Senior Deputy Editor, TAIWO AMODU, examines the implication of this on the report of Governor Nasir el-Rufai committee on power devolution and the growing anger over the lack of fidelity of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to its manifesto.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in his typical manner, has dismissed agitation for power devolution in the country in his New Year national broadcast and in apparent reference to agitation for return to the parliamentary system of government, which guaranteed autonomy to the federating regions in the First Republic.  President Buhari accused those in the vanguard of the agitation as impatient as he said that the  present presidential system should be given long period of trial and improvement.

He said: “We tried the Parliamentary system: we jettisoned it. Now there are shrill cries for a return to the Parliamentary structure. In older democracies, these systems took centuries to evolve so we cannot expect a copied system to fit neatly with our purposes. We must give a long period of trial and improvement before the system we have adopted is anywhere near fit for purpose.’’

Before his recent obdurate stance, President Buhari had made similar pronouncement  last August, shortly after his return from the United Kingdom where he spent several weeks to attend to an undisclosed ailment. In a presidential broadcast, last August,  Buhari admonished those aggrieved over the present Nigeria architecture to approach the National Assembly and National Council of State to ventilate their grievances. He further claimed that the unity of Nigeria was settled and therefore not negotiable.

His remarks, however,  courted the anger of  a group, Southern Leaders Forum, drawn from the South-west, South-East and South-south geopolitical zones, they had  collectively expressed their strong opposition to the position taken by President Muhammadu Buhari in his national broadcast.

The leaders, who met in Ikoyi, Lagos, in a statement titled, “Only restructuring will ensure the unity, peace and development of Nigeria,” and jointly signed by Chief Edwin Clark and Albert Horsfall for the South-south; Chief Nnia Nwodo and Prof. Joe Irukwu for the South-east; and Chief Reuben Fasoranti and Chief Ayo Adebanjo for the South-West, expressed concern  that Nigeria was in a “very bad shape and requires statesmanship in its leadership”.

The southern leaders noted that the President, in his broadcast, handled some very important issues with levity that did not give cognisance to the level at which they affect the overall well-being of Nigerians.

“We have studied the national broadcast by Mr. President on Monday, August 21, 2017 and after a careful and thorough analysis of the speech, we make the following observations: the president expressed his disaffection about comments on Nigeria while he was away that question our collective existence as a nation’ and which he said had crossed the red lines.

“Against the background of the threat to treat hate speech as terrorism, we see a veiled threat to bare fangs and commence the criminalisation of dissenting opinions in our national discourse.

“The president deployed the imagery of the late Chief Emeka Ojukwu to play down the demand for the renegotiation of the structure of Nigeria by saying they both agreed in Daura in 2003 that we must remain one and united.

“While we agree with them, the meeting between the two of them could not have been a sovereign national conference whose decision cannot be reviewed.

“The fact that we agree on their conclusion that we should remain united does not foreclose discussions of the terms and conditions of the union,” they said.

The leaders  further submitted  that the claim that Nigeria’s unity was settled and not negotiable was untenable on the grounds that “every country is in daily dialogue and there is nothing finally settled in its life”.

“Stable nations are still fine-tuning details of the architecture of their existence now and then,” let alone Nigeria, which they described as a country yet to attain nationhood.’’

In APC, promises die first?

Before Buhari’s last August and New Year broadcasts, his Information Minister, Lai Mohammed  and national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Odigie Oyegun had made similar pronouncements to foreclose national discourse on review of existing power sharing arrangement in the country.

The duo at separate interview sessions, jolted Nigerians when they declared that restructuring was not  the priority of the present administration.

Speaking  on June 8, 2017 when he featured on a current affairs programme, ‘Focus Nigeria’, aired by the Africa Independent Television (AIT), Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had said that given what the administration of  President Muhammadu Buhari inherited, restructuring could not have been its priority.

Alhaji Mohammed explained that with the high level of corruption, downturn in the economy, insecurity, particularly with the activities of Boko Haram in the North-East, the government could not have contemplated restructuring.

Odigie  was to make similar submission on a live television programme. Speaking on  Sun Rise Daily of Channels Television, the former Edo state governor declared  that  the focus of the present administration  was how to revamp the  distressed economy and provide job for unemployed youth in the country.

He said: ‘’ “What is more important, to fix the economy or to embark on this political issue with all the contentious and different interpretation that the public give to it?

Findings by  Nigerian Tribune, however revealed that the first item on the APC manifesto which was formally unveiled in Abuja on March 6, 2014 was the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution to ensure that the central government is decentralized through devolution of powers to 36 states in the federation and the 774 local councils.

The first item on the ruling party manifesto reads: “Initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit.”

Still on Constitution amendment, the party further promised to “Strengthen INEC to reduce/ eliminate electoral malpractices; amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases; Restructure government for a leaner, more efficient and adequately compensated public service,” amongst others.

Oyegun’s NWC  unveils Committee

In response to scathing indictment of the party over its infidelity to its manifesto,  its national working committee, led by Chief  Odigie Oyegun last July  inaugurated a 24-member committee  to examine restructuring with Kaduna State governor, Nasir-El-Rufai as chairman and  Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi  as Secretary.

Equally saddled with  the assignment of  explaining  to Nigerians the party position on devolution of power were four colleagues of Governor Nasir el-Rufai: Rauf Aregbesola, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,  Simon Lalong and  Ibikunle Amosun, governors of Osun, Kano, Plateau and Ogun states, respectively.

Addressing the Committee, Chief Oyegun said the ruling party remained committed to its promise on devolution of power and would not renege on its promise to the electorate.

‘’If any group can claim ownership to the principle and the need for true federalism, that group is the APC. From our constituent units, that was one of the principal points and when we sat down to negotiate this great union called the APC, if was one of the principal issues that was almost like a no go item.

“We negotiated and agreed and as a result, the constitution of the party, the manifesto of the party were very elaborate in their references to true federalism and devolution of power.

“It is therefore totally inconceivable for uninformed members of the public to jump  on this bandwagon of reconstituting the federation to give the impression that the party was in any way against the principle of taking a fresh look at the basis of our federalism.

“For us, it is already a mantra. We know that there are things that need to be tinkered with without, in any way sacrificing, jeopardizing the fundamental unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He however  cautioned  the Governor El-Rufai team to restrict itself to the party constitution and manifesto as its guide in the course of its onerous assignment .

“Let me emphasize  that your task is both critical and very sensitive, especially in the light of the clamor for restructuring , devolution of power, fiscal federalism, resource control and all others that describe the various forms of reforms that are being suggested for the reform of the current political architecture of our beloved nation. The APC constitution and manifesto vigorously canvassed these issues and they are very elaborately provided for.

“The party position has been eloquently stated in the terms of references of this committee.  It is your duty, especially having regard to the emotive nature of the national discourse on “restructuring” to distill from our party constitution and manifesto the various ideas being canvassed in the different constitutional conferences that has been held in this country, especially to the one that, as a principle, we refused to attend because it was a very political affair. That is the last constitutional gathering of the last administration.

“I implore you to take time out of your busy schedule to attend this issue speedily because we must take charge of this debate which is being used unfortunately by opponents of the party who have not, at any stage define what restructuring means to them. So, out there, there are so many definitions of restructuring.

“I ask you to generate a report which will truly reflect the desire of our people and a true reflection of what our party stands for so that at the end of the day, we will have a significant idea of what the people of this nation wants as their idea of true federalism.”

Further investigation by Nigerian Tribune revealed that the Governor Nasir–el-Rufai team in  fidelity to its assurance had since toured the six geo-political zones and met with critical stakeholders, to enable them ventilate their opinions, which would ultimately be reflected in its report.

Amongst the issues raised with stakeholders in the course of its assignment were state creation, form of government, power  sharing, review of revenue sharing formular, derivation principle.

Forlorn hope

The APC National Chairman also recently assured Nigerians  that his leadership would forward the report of  Gov. el-Rufai Committee to both President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly.

Chief Oyegun gave the assurance while addressing the Second Plenary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria at the St. Charles Borromeo Pastoral Centre in Jalingo, Taraba State.

He said the party would review the report of the committee and thereafter present a framework of its implementation to the government.

“In response to the agitations for structural reforms of the country’s political architecture and to structure the debate for the benefit of the sustained unity, peace and progress of the country, the APC constituted a broad-based committee with H.E, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, the Kaduna State Governor as chairman to review the reports of all past constitutional conferences, the APC constitution, manifesto and campaign promises of the Party to distil the position of the APC as regards what the Nigerian federalism is and should be.

‘’The recommendations of the committee will be reviewed by the party organs and a framework for the implementation of the accepted report will be presented to government”, he stated.

With an unyielding president, ever  acerbic  in his remarks on the issue of power devolution in Nigeria,  the report of Governor  Nasir el-Rufai Committee is certainly dead on arrival.

Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere  who also doubles as publicity scribe of Southern Leaders Forum, (SLF) however told Nigerian Tribune in a telephone interview  that only naïve Nigerians nursed hope in the Kaduna governor restructuring committee.

He declared that the team was set up by the ruling party as a ploy to buy time for the party, which he noted has no intention to fulfill its promise on power devolution.

He said: “If Nigerians were sensitive and wary enough, they should have known that the committee was deceptive . They made a mockery of restructuring debate by naming el-Rufai as chairman.

“Remember the same el-Rufai few weeks to his appointment,  had openly lambasted advocates of restructuring as opportunists! So, it was designed  to buy time and take steam out of the agitation. The el-Rufai committee was meant to hoodwink the unwary. It was a perfidious act to deceive Nigerians but they have now been exposed,’’ Odumakin noted.