‘APC Restructuring Report Biggest Scam Ever Seen By Nigerians’

The restructuring report of the All Progressives Congress (APC) recently submitted by the Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led committee to the party’s leadership has been described as the “biggest scam” ever seen by Nigerians.

This was according to Ken Okolugbo, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who equally described the report as another plot by the APC to deceive Nigerians.

Okolugbo’s claim lines up with the assertion by former Governor Olusegun Mimiko who described the restructuring report by Muhammadu Buhari regime as “another vote-catching gimmick”.

Speaking during his appearance on Channels Television, Okolugbo said the “state police, state judicial council, fiscal federalism and independent candidature” recommend in the APC report may never see the light of the day under Buhari.

He said the report “coming from El-Rufai, is very distasteful”.

Okolugbo said, “It is the biggest scam Nigerians have ever seen. By this time next year, you will see that APC would have done nothing on restructuring.

“I am hundred percent sure they will not implement it.”

“The most painful aspect of it is the fact that the driver of this process, el-Rufai, was the same person that once said here in Channels TV studio that those people that were talking about restructuring were political opportunists who were only irresponsible and out to attract attention to themselves.

“So the document is coming from a man that does not even believe in restructuring. If you look at the manifesto of APC, everything that they have done, they have wasted public funds as far as I am concerned.

“The truth about it is that all these things were in their manifesto – the same federalism we were talking about, the same resource control, state police, state electoral commissions having registers of their own. They talked about it in their manifesto,” he said.

On his part, Mimiko said, “While I agree that the fears of all part of the country must be allayed as regards resource control, it is important to note that every part of our land is well resource endowed,”

“With the recent advances in power storage technology in batteries, and progressively reducing cost of renewables, we must be constantly reminded that fossil fuel will soon become truly fossil.”

“Rather than waste useful time tinkering with process, the appropriate thing to do is a wholesale review of the nature of the structure, such that it is reconfigured to be able to deliver on its mandate,” he recommended.

“That President Buhari made his statement in spite of the bold and unequivocal commitment of the APC manifesto to restructuring is also indicative of the questionable pattern in which the party swept its way into office some three years ago.

“APC can, in the circumstances, safely be accused of promising what it never intended to do.

“With its control of the legislative house at the Federal and State level, the APC has capacity to actualize its restructuring agenda before the next (2019) election. Then and only then, to my mind, can the nation believe that the born-again restructuring mantra is not another vote-catching gimmick,” he added.

Mimiko added, “The advocacies for restructuring, greater democratization, a cleaner electoral process, etc., would amount to nothing if they do not translate into observable good life for our people, and strengthen national unity across our country.”