Restructuring: Northern leaders are enemies of Nigeria —Afenifere

The leadership of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba organisation, has said the stance of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) against the call for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation is a demonstration of the hatred of the northern leaders for the country and its people.

The spokesman of Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin, said this, on Friday, in reaction to a statement credited to some leaders from the North restating their opposition to the unending call for a review of the basics of the country’s structure and operation.

NEF, rising from its emergency meeting, held in Kano on Thursday, had vowed to resist what it called any move to undermine the current Federal Government on the account of the ill-health of President Muhammadu Buhari who is presently on a medical vacation in the UK.

The group had also alleged “attempts to exploit the absence of the president to achieve dubious political goals”, one of which it claimed was the call for the restructuring of the polity, even as it insisted that the status quo must be maintained.

Addressing newsmen after the meeting, the spokesman of the forum, Paul Unongo, while pledging the support of the North for Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, reportedly said, among others, “We will also join other Nigerians in resisting any attempt to seek sectional and parochial goals outside the constitution and laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The forum expects that the task of governing the nation will continue uninterrupted until the return of President Muhammadu Buhari. We, therefore, appeal to Nigerians to be cooperative, focused and committed”.

However, elder statesman, Tanko Yakassai, was quoted by the media to have been emphatic in his opposition to restructuring on the ground that it was being masterminded by the South West, based on an alleged disdain for the North because of its population and landmass advantages.

“I have always suspected the motive behind such clamour. The whole idea is to deny the North its God-given advantage of population and landmass which it has effectively used to earn appreciable allocation from the Federal Government. Those behind it are not interested in Nigeria’s unity and progress”, he was quoted to have said.

Odumakin, in a telephone interview with Saturday Tribune on Friday, however, advised the prominent northern leaders to stop crying wolf where there was none, admonishing them to stop the unnecessary over-heating of the polity.

He described as unfortunate the statement credited to NEF and the northern elders, noting that some of them, including Tanko Yakassai and Professor Jerry Gana, on May 2, 2017, jointly signed a statement, along with him, Chief Edwin Clark and Chief John Dara, calling for the implementation of the 2014 Confab Report.

“The first thing is this: the northern elders should just stop this unnecessary over-heating of the polity. There is nothing anybody is doing in asking for the restructuring that translated for the dismemberment of the country. They are just crying wolf where there is none.

“As we speak, the main issue on the front burner now is the issue of an acting president/coordinator which is a misnomer. This should be discussed as there is no constitutional provision for such a misnomer.

“What is even wrong with the call for restructuring? Those who are opposing the call do not love the country and its people. Those who want continuity on the basis of justice, equity and fairness are the ones calling for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation as it is presently.

“I am surprised by the statement credited to Tanko Yakassai. It is either he does not understand what is meant by restructuring or he is just being mischievous. Yakassai, Chief Edwin Clark, Chief John Dara, Professor Jerry Gana and I were joint signatories to a communiqué issued on May 2, 2017, asking for the implementation of the 2014 Confab Report.

“There is nothing in the call for restructuring more than a call for true federalism. We can still put the pieces together. Nigeria is in pieces now more than in the last two years. What we have been witnessing in the last two years are hegemonic agenda and ethnic bulldozing.

“This can be seen in the ways and manners of recent appointments and employments into all the arms-bearing institutions that we have in this country. These include the Nigerian Army, the Airforce, police, the civil defence, the Nigerian Customs and the latest being the recent recruitments into the State Security Service (SSS).

“We are asking for the implementation of the 2014 Confab Report to unleash the great potentials of this country. We are asking for a Nigeria that works. But those against restructuring are the ones who want to perpetuate the continued hegemonic domination”, he said.