Of restructuring and the APC manifesto

In  spite of the wrongs in the Nigerian system, many are hopeful of a turnaround. In fact, the hope Nigerians are clinging to rests on the resilience which has sustained the country despite the many doomsday predictions that have trailed it since it got its independence. Perhaps the almost incredible religiosity of the citizens of the country is a definitive factor in the makeup of the resilience that has sustained the country. It is a trite restating of the obvious to foreground the thriving of religious enterprises in Nigeria. That Nigerian leaders are quick to be identified with respected religious leaders is a necessary psychological trump card aimed at the fragile subconscious of the Nigerian people. Only few will not see beyond the warm handshake and the beaming smile exchange by President Buhari and church leaders as actually a premeditated menu for the sedative consumption of the Nigerian populace.

However, amidst the euphoria of his comeback from his medical trip, one would have hoped that the president would attempt to douse the tension caused by the uncertainty largely created by the ineptitude of his aides who bungled every chance to reassure Nigerians of the state of health of their president. Curiously, the president greatly missed his opportunity to stem the tide of the tension haunting the country. In fact, the president seemed to want to give more life to it with his redline warning speech. Many observers would have wondered if Nigeria was in 1984 with the definitive assertion of the President about the unity of the nation which he decreed was “settled and not negotiable.” The assertion, I believe, was intentionally put in the speech to show the resolve of the president in the face of the increasing dins of the various separatist movements that have grown in pitch in recent times. But the question is, did he not conflate many different issues with his fiat?

I strongly believe Nigerians in the main want the continued existence of the nation as one; and that desire is buoyed by the fatalism that religion has successfully engrained in the psyche of the masses. Nigerians have been made to believe in the irrevocability of the conjugal injunction, “what God has joined, let no man put asunder.” And so many see Nigerian statehood as a kind of divine marriage that should be protected. But if Nigeria as a nation is to be eternally perpetuated, is it in this unjustly awkward shape?

There will always be agitations in the country as humans remain humans because of their penchant to alter their state of things. In fact, a curious flip through the histories of the nations of the world would reveal a constant flux in their geographical shape, their demographics, and their systems of government. The reality of Nigeria is that it cannot remain the way it is right now. What does the president and his aides fear if Nigeria is restructured? Why did the president’s party insert restructuring in its manifesto? The party, through its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, even restated its belief in the restructuring of the country while it attempted to beat down its major opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claim to the restructuring mantra.  Abdullahi asserted, ‘for the avoidance of doubt, the APC believes in the restructuring of the country. It is at the very heart of our party’s manifesto as explicitly stated in Section 3 (10) thus: “We will devolve more revenue and powers, such as policing to States and Local Government so that decision making is closer to the people. We pledge to bring the government closer to the people through fiscal and political decentralisation including local policing.”’

It is now perplexing to take in the president’s definitive closure of the nature of the corporate existence of the country in light of his party’s manifesto. There seems to be no alignment of thought and aim between the presidency and his party; and Nigerians seem to be at mercy of this impasse. Nigerians’ resilience is being weakened almost every hour. It behoves the president, his team and his party to get a grips on their duties, and not lose sight of their many promises they scribbled in their manifestoes as they sought to get beleaguered Nigerians into their ship in 2015. Whether we like it or not, 2019 is just some few months hence.

• Idowu writes in from the University of Ibadan.