Buhari, 8 Other Presidential Aspirants And Their Stand On Restructuring

As the 2019 general elections draw near, Nigerians will increasingly continue to hear diverse manifesto pledges from politicians who are hoping to clinch one political seat or the other. But one issue on the minds of most electorates, especially from the Southern part of the country and middle belt, is that of having a true federation. This has led to the demand for restructuring.

Restructuring has been a hotly debated topic among different regions of the country, tiers of government and even ethnic groups as it had been argued to be the panacea for most of the country’s economic and security challenges. While the country’s South West appears to be in the vanguard of the call for restructuring among other resounding voices, there is a narrative that the North East and North West are against restructuring of the country.

These increased calls for restructuring in recent years have brought it into the forefront of the 2019 electioneering.

This is why THE WHISTLER has gone into the political archive to bring out the views of the major presidential aspirants on the issue of restructuring.

– Muhammadu Buhari on Restructuring-

Although his party, the APC, listed restructuring amongst its presidential campaign promises in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari reneged on his promise to restructure the country after attaining power.

Buhari now holds the view that proponents of restructuring have individual agenda: “Every group asking for restructuring has got their own agenda and I hope it can be accommodated by the constitution,” the President told some Urhobo Traditional Rulers who paid him a courtesy call at the State House in June.

Buhari had said in his 2018 new year address: “When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure.

“No human law or edifice is perfect,” he said adding that, “There is a strong case for a closer look at the cost of government and for the public services long used to extravagance, waste and corruption to change for the better.”

– Atiku Abubakar On Restructuring –

Speaking at the Chatham House in April, Atiku said of restructuring: “It is doable. In fact, what I’ve told many Nigerians at home is that if you give me six months, I know I will be able to achieve a fast level of restructuring, otherwise the concurrent list issue.

“It’s very easy to deal with it because there is no state that you will call and say ‘I want to give you this responsibility together with the resources’, and will say ‘no’.

“I want the people of every state to be able to hold their leaders accountable because, at the moment, the federal government is being accused of everything, even when it’s not in its area of responsibility,” he said, adding that “I want to be able to resolve that so that citizens can hold their local leaders responsible for lapses and maladministration.”

The former Vice President had on different occasions allayed the fears of the North that restructuring may disfavour them and be only to the advantage of Southerners.

“Restructuring is not a sectional thing or sectional demand. And it will not benefit only some sections of the country and hurt others. It will benefit the whole country,” Atiku said, adding that, “Those who fear that it is designed to hurt them to the benefit of others or to benefit only them at the expense of others are grossly mistaken.

– Ahmed Makarfi on Restructuring-

The immediate past National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and two-time governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi, recently spoke on the issue of restructuring in Delta State

Makarfi argued that only with restructuring will the country be able to escape the numerous challenges facing it. He promised to carry out “institutional restructuring” of the country as only by so doing can we “make our institutions accountable to the people.”

– Sule Lamido on Restructuring –

Former Jigawa state governor and presidential hopeful, Sule Lamido, had during his appearance on Channels Television on Monday said of restructuring: “I am for anything that will bring progress and promote unity of this country. But restructuring is not what me or any individual can decide on. It involves every Nigerian. It is what we all have to sit down together and discuss what we want and how we want our country to be. It is beyond just me as a person; it is beyond a presidential candidate.”

– Ibrahim Dankwambo on Restructuring-

Governor Dankwombo on his part said: “When there are agitations, it means people are not happy, people are not satisfied.

“So, this is a good time for leaders to look at the mirror, see themselves, look at the country and see why there are agitations. And from there, whatever they feel is the cause of agitation should be corrected.

“If restructuring is the solution, restructuring doesn’t mean A go, B go and C go; no. Maybe to restructure is some other ways of being a better federating country.

“I mean units in the country, meaning a better way of balancing things, meaning renegotiating certain terms of living together, meaning creating more confidence and being more comfortable with the units that are together.

“I must tell you, nobody should deceive himself. If earnings fall from oil, any other revenue in Nigeria, from whichever state, would go down.

“All the revenues are linked to oil revenue: VAT, royalty, taxes, custom duties; all revolve around oil revenue.”

– Aminu Tambuwal on Restructuring –

Governor Tambuwal of Sokoko State had in 2017 refuted the narrative that the Northern region was against the restructuring of the country.

“The fact that some people continue to parrot such a lie only help to give credence to the flawed argument. Let us be clear: the North wants restructuring as much as anyone else. However, as a people we do not easily jump unto the bandwagon because we are always there for the long haul. We believe that any decision we take must be inclusive, and respect procedures and processes so that the outcome is sustainable.

“I think we should first, as a country, agree on a mutual definition of the term restructuring. In my view, if restructuring means taking stock of our arrangement to ensure that no state takes a disproportionate amount of the resources, or most of the available space in the education or job sector, or subjugate the others’ culture or religion, or lords it over the other so that the number of the poor and uneducated whose future is circumscribed by their circumstance is shared proportionately, then we are game.

“We all want a country where there is peace and progress, where justice is a given, where all lives are safe and people can pursue their legitimate livelihoods wherever they choose. I believe each state in this country has areas of comparative advantage and life is a cycle so that what was once the largest revenue earner can in time become less so while something else takes ascendancy.

“As a country we must look to the future and agree on what in the long run will benefit us all. I must give kudos to the organisers for choosing such an appropriate theme for this conference, ‘The North and the future of the Nigerian federation,” said the governor.

Although he is yet to officially declare for 2019 presidency, Tambuwal, who had recently dumped the ruling APC for the opposition APC, is speculated to be nursing a presidential ambition in the next general elections.

– Kingsley Moghalu on Restructuring –

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, had also recently joined the long train of the politicians hoping to become president in the next general elections.

Moghalu had said of his position on restructuring: “Even though we know it (restructuring) is the duty of the legislature, we still need the President to provide moral leadership, to provide inspirational leadership, to motivate Nigerians to restructure their country in a manner that will make Nigeria work for all of us.

“Restructuring is not breaking up the country, restructuring is not taking anything away from anyone, restructuring is to make Nigeria stable, to make Nigeria prosperous.

“The only thing the Nigerian government relies upon is oil, if we restructure Nigeria we will stop relying on oil because the regions will develop their own economic potentials but there are vested interests that don’t want this to happen because they don’t want Nigerians to make progress.

“And they come and try to scare us, saying how are we going to achieve restructuring when so and so people don’t want it. Who told you they don’t want it? It is a small class of people that don’t want restructuring, not the generality of Nigerians in the North or the South or the East or the West. There is a consensus in Nigeria that Nigeria is better off restructured constitutionally because the country is not working.”

– Fella Durotoye on Restructuring –

Mr Durotoye, a presidential aspirant of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) gave his stand on restructuring : “The talk about restructuring is really about the pain and disappointment most people have felt in Nigeria. You would never hear a Niger Deltan say they are being marginalised as long as their son is in power, likewise the Hausa and Yoruba. What is happening to us all is that we have lost our national identity and I think it is not the constitution that can fix this.

“To be able to fix Nigeria, we have to restructure our minds, not just our constitution. Let’s make demands from the people that we elect and restructure their accountability process. Let’s restructure our political parties and make sure everybody in the party can vote for their aspirants. Let’s restructure our electoral financing and make sure it is possible for people to run for an election without requiring so much money. Those are the kind of restructuring that we need,” he told Punch.

– Omoyele Sowore on Restructuring-

Even though he is yet to pitch his tent with a political party to pursue his presidential ambition, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr Sowore had argued that Nigeria was in coma and needed to be “restored to factory setting”.

Sowore said during a town hall meeting in Abeokuta, Ogun State: “We want to restructure Nigeria by decentralizing power but we want it to be done by us (youth). We are the ones whose future is at stake.

“We don’t want old people to restructure Nigeria for us, so if you are not in position of power and authority when they are doing restructuring they would lock the gate against you.

“The last time they had a meeting to discuss our future, we (youth) were not there; they only appointed few people from midst and put there.

“If they want to speak, the elders would shut them down because the elders are the ones sitting in front, and half of the elders before they even start the meeting have fallen asleep and small of them even died.”