As Nigerians celebrate 64th year of nationhood, pioneer Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie has appealed to the Bola Tinubu administration to facilitate restructuring of the country.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune in a telephone interview, Okorie who recalled healthy competition and mutual respect among the federal regions in the First Republic maintained that a rejig of the political architecture was the only way to give meaning to give meaningful meaning to the political independence achieved in 1960.
He maintained that without “the political restructuring of Nigeria as an existential project without which the much awaited 2027 general election may end up as a mirage with irredeemable consequences.”
He said: “There was palpable joy across the length and breadth of Nigeria on October 1, 1960 when Nigeria attained independence from Great Britain, now the United Kingdom without the bloodshed of any Nigerian citizen. Nigerian citizens were full of expectations of a glorious era and a prosperous future. Nigeria had a constitution that enabled each of its four regions to explore and exploit its comparative advantages for its citizens, while the revenue allocation formula was based on fifty per cent by the principle of derivation. Nigeria was a quasi-federation, and competition among the regions was healthy.
“The country was developing at an impressive and appreciable pace. In a space of six years, between 1960 and 1966, the Eastern Region under Dr Michael Okpara as the Premier was rated as the fastest-growing third-world economy. Unfortunately, the military coupe of January 1966, which toppled the democratic government of Nigeria, halted and embarked on a steady disruption of Nigeria’s growth and development.
“The various military governments that followed bastardized Nigeria’s socio-political structure, which culminated in the imposition of the obnoxious 1999 constitution aimed essentially at making a particular section of the country preponderant over the rest of the Country.
“The 1999 constitution of Nigeria forced down the throat of Nigerians by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar military junta is far more responsible for Nigeria’s deep-seated division along ethnic and religious fault lines than the Biafra/Nigeria war that end in 1970 on a note of no-victor-no-vanquished. The negative effects of the 1999 constitution denied Nigeria the benefits of its return to democratic rule.
“It is by the special grace of God that Nigeria has remained barely afloat and has not disintegrated. Nigeria is sitting on a tinder-box. It is with every sense of responsibility and patriotism that I advise President Bola Amed Tinubu to give utmost priority to the social and political restructuring of Nigeria as an existential project without which the much awaited 2027 general election may end up as a mirage with irredeemable consequences.”
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