Against the backdrop of calls to restructure the country and calls to implement report of the 2014 confab report, Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial district, Sen. Sani Shehu, on Wednesday, opined that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration has five options towards doing this.
This came as several eminent Nigerians have urged President Buhari to restructure the country, as well as implement reports of the 2014 national confab convened by the immediate-past President Goodluck Jonathan.
Recall that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar had on May 31, 2016 called for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation to cater for the aspirations of its component units.
Atiku, who spoke in Abuja, at the unveiling of a book, ‘We are all Biafrans,’ written by a journalist, Chido Onumah, had opined that such restructuring is the only answer to the current agitation for a Biafra Republic.
Similarly, erudite Scholar and Deputy Chairman, 2014 National Conference, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, recently lashed at the Secretary General of the Federation (SGF), Engineer Babachir Lawal, who had in a recent interview stated that the President Buhari administration was too busy with issues of governance, and thus may not have the luxury of time at the moment to look into the report of the confab.
Babachir had also described delegates at the confab as ‘boys,’ who were each given N7 million by the past administration.
But in a statement personally signed by him, Prof. Akinyemi had expressed dismay at the choice of words, which he said Lawal used in a recent interview published in several national newspapers, describing it as “intemperate language, crude, rude, offensive and unbecoming of the high office of state he occupies.”
Professor Akinyemi stated that among the delegates the SGF referred to as boys were “the Emir of Ilorin, the Lamido of Adamawa, King Alfred Diete Spiff, the Gbong Gwom of Jos, Emir of Yauri, Emir of Dutse, Emir of Askira and the Amanyanabo of Nembe.
“Various judges of the High Courts, delegates included a former Chief of Defence Staff, a former Chief of Air Staff, three former foreign ministers, a former Inspector General of Police, two former senate presidents, a former SGF, several former ministers, several SANs, several former governors, professors… Presiding was a former Chief Justice of Nigeria and a former Minister of External Affairs.”
He added, “My own upbringing and diplomatic and scholar’s disposition will not allow me to yield to the temptation to call Engr Lawal by the name his own choice of words has reduced him to.”
Continuing, Prof. Akinyemi had said that most of the delegates, there were people who had paid their dues; served this country in high and exalted positions, risked their lives in the civil war and other domestic insurrections and showed exceptional excellence in the performance of their duties, obviously more excellence than Engr Lawal had demonstrated in his one year in office.”
Professor Akinyemi, however, called out the SGF to get his facts right in response to the SGF’s comment in the published interview where he (SGF) said “… everybody in the committee got N7 million.”
“Come on Mr SGF. You have been in the office that funded the conference and you have been there for over a year, and all you need to do is to send for the files to know that what members were paid is much less than N7 million per head. You do not have to depend on rumours or ‘dem say.”
He however pointed that “Frankly, I will not plead for the report of the conference to be considered by your government. Governments come and governments go. The problems will remain. We will all be judged by whether we were part of the solution or part of the problems.”
In the same vein, Sen. Sanni who took to his Facebook page to suggest options to President Buhari said: “Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s confab report options for the President Muhammadu Buhari administration are: To implement it in full; to implement some of it; to donate it to libraries; to keep it in Government shelves and to shred and recycle the hard copies to tissue paper and keep the soft copies in the National archives.”
Sanni, however, did not pinpoint the exact options President Buhari should take towards restructuring Nigeria.
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