Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife urged the federal government to take
the issue of restructuring serious and He accused the north of benefiting from the
current structure . The former governor said the call for war or disintegration
will also not work Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife has questioned why the north is
against the issue of restructuring when all other regions in the country are
calling for it. In an interview with The Punch, the former governor of the old
Anambra state said things were not right in Nigeria and this was due to the
current structure. Ezeife said history has shown that Nigeria was better off
during the period of regionalism where each region was autonomous.
He said: "The issue is that time is running out on
Nigeria. It is either we restructure now and survive or we don’t restructure
and disintegrate. The restructuring is simple. It is not a matter of inventing
new ideas or arrangements. What we call for is merely going back to Nigeria, as
agreed by our founding fathers. That is what restructuring actually means.
Nigeria was a truly federal system and it was made up of three regions as
federating units: East, West and North. Later on, Mid-West was added, making
four — three in the South and one in the North. "Things were going well;
regions had their own constitutions. They were autonomous; they were growing at
their own pace and resources for maintaining the federation were contributed by
the federating units. After the (1967-1970 Nigerian civil) war, the system
became even more unilateral, arbitrary and dictatorial. It is therefore
surprising that without much consultation as usual, many states were created by
those who controlled the (levers of) power, so that, today, we have 36 states
plus Abuja (the Federal Capital Territory)”
On whether Nigeria may go to war if the demands of
pro-Biafra agitatirs are not met, Ezeife said: "No, no, no. I don’t think
that anybody in his right senses will go for war. War is out of it. Anybody who
is talking about war doesn’t know what he is talking about and I don’t support
anything violent. It’s an empty threat. Nigeria should be wise not to go to
war. People who want us to have another civil war hate the country.
"Things are clear now. (Former Vice President) Abubakar
has come out to support restructuring. Even Ango Abdullahi, who sometimes makes
it difficult to understand statements, is also in support. So, I don’t think we
are in such a difficult situation now. It’s a matter of facing realities,
hoping and praying to God, and taking the right decisions. I mean, what is the
problem? Why is the North reluctant? Is it because the North is getting many
advantages from the existing situation? The North has been resisting
restructuring; the APC has been resisting restructuring. Even if I were in the
APC, I would know what the interest of the country is and the interest of my
own part of the country. This party system is changing; I think people are not
free at all (to serve their people’s interests)." Meanwhile, Senator Shehu
Sani representing Kaduna central constituency hinted that the recent moves by
his party the All Progressives Congress (APC) at restructuring Nigeria might be
a fake one. In a Facebook post on Saturday, July 22, which the outspoken
senator titled: “Timetable for Restructuring”, he noted that the recent setting
up of a committee to look into how to restructure Nigeria was being used to buy
time. He said this would continue till 2018 when it will change into a campaign
mode and the restructuring will die in 2019 during the elections.
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