Some prominent elder statesmen from the South West, South East, South South and North Central zones of the country have appealed to the National Assembly to put aside their political differences and unite to restructure the country before it collapses.
The elders said this when they visited the Senate on Thursday.
The team include leader of Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; a former Federal Commissioner of Information and Chairman, Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum, Chief Edwin Clark; President General, Ohanaeze Ndi’gbo, Chief John Nwodo; a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and ex-Minister of Finance, Chief Olu Falae; and the first Military Governor of Plateau State, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (retd.).
Others are a former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah; a former Governor of the old Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife; and Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin.
Also part of the delegation are Air Vice Marshal Irangate Idongesit; Senator Stella Omu; Prof. Banjo Akintoye; Prof. Chigozie Ogbu; Prof. Ihechukwuma Maduke; Senator Basset Henshaw; Mr. Alfred Mulade; His Highness, Anaba Saraigbe; and Lady Maryam Yunusa.
The elders were received by the Chairman of the National Assembly and President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, and other principal members of the Senate.
They urged the National Assembly to immediately declare a national emergency and deliver the nation from the “edge of the precipice.”
The elders, who spoke through Nwodo, said that the nation was deceiving itself with assumptions of running a Federal system of government while it was truly running a Unitary system.
It said over-concentration of power in the centre portended grave danger for the general well-being of the nation and its constituent units.
Addressing Saraki, Nwodo said, “Mr. President, we have come to beg you. We know that sometimes history places one in a particular juncture to change the order of things. We see you and your colleagues at a particularly unique juncture. You can prevent further bloodshed in this country. You can prevent further drift into ethnic crises. We want you to revisit devolution of power.
“If we have this restructuring and we limit people to mindings domestic affairs and we encourage competition between the various areas of the country, production will increase, standards will increase, security will increase, mutual respect for each other will increase and friendliness will be encouraged. We want to restructure Nigeria. The alternative will be worse than the situation we have today.
“We are visiting the National Assembly because of its unique position in our Constitution. The democratic system we run in our country rests on three arms and of these three arms, the other two function in accordance with the laws made by this arm. This arm characterises democracy.
“We believe that by visiting you today, we are coming to speak to the conscience of our country. We ask that this discussion today be as frank as possible.
“In situations like this, unless the National Assembly rises like the conscience, the commitment and the patriotism to unveil the façade of partisan politics, partisan advantages and face the real issues of the nation, we stand on the edge of a precipice.
“We have come to you at a time when our economic stability is in a serious danger. Today, international debt is extremely high; it is one of the highest as adjudged by the IMF for countries.
“Our domestic debt is high and growing by the day. Our subsidy indebtedness is something that has defied solution and transparency in disclosure. Our youth despair is gargantuan.
“The federating units in this country, in the unitary system that we have called a federal government, are surviving with great difficulty. The Federal Government has given bailouts just to sustain recurrent expenditure of our state governments. Many of the important units of growth in our country, namely industrial concerns – either not producing at all or producing short of installed capacity – and job creation are low. Despondency stares at us in the face.
“Look at our security, when we had the regional police this didn’t exist. Every state had domestic security. At no time except during the Nigerian Civil War have people been killed in the way they are being killed today in Nigeria.
“In one year we have recorded more than 1,000 killings. What is surprising is that these killings are not matched with equal reaction by the security forces in our country.
“If it is possible for us to have a situation in which people carry AK-47 freely in Nigeria and murder people every day, and this is happening as if nobody cares; and some people told us that they (killers) came from Libya. When did Gaddafi die? How many years ago?
“If the essence of choosing 17 heads of security arms in this country is to ensure that they come from the same area as the President in order to ensure loyalty, what have they done to guarantee our security? If they must all come from northern Nigeria, please bring those who can do the job. We can no longer tolerate this insecurity.
“Our courts speak from the two sides of the mouth. Today in Nigeria, our courts make proclamations that, whether you committed a crime or not, you may not be arrested or even be prosecuted. It is unprecedented in any democracy.
“We have come as elders; we have come as fathers; we have come as heads of different socio-cultural organisations of this country who look up to us for leadership to speak in moments of this nature. We have looked at the problem of our country and we think that it is soluble but we also think that there is lack of will.
“We have come to ginger you to develop that will and seek the consensus of the leadership of the National Assembly and of the political class, who have the necessary legislative empowerment by our Constitution, to make decisions that can reverse our situation. If not in office, you constitute the political class of our country. At times like this, partisanship is criminal.
“We believe that many of the problems we have in our country emanate from the Constitution of our country. We know that the National Assembly has had debates on devolution of powers. And we know that you did promise the nation that you would revisit this issue.
“We have come to ask you to bring up the revisit. We consider it urgent and inevitable because we believe that all the problems that we have today in Nigeria emanate from the fact that our Constitution is not right for a country constituted by people of diverse cultures, religions and political persuasion.
“We have watched the helplessness of the National Assembly where members of the executive even refuse your invitation to come and make explanations before you, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.
“We have found the helplessness of the Senate, when you can be invaded in spite of the security adornment in this place, controlled by the executive. And the seat of the Senate President was almost invaded but for the personal security of the aides. This is because our system makes the tail wag the dog rather than the dog wags the tail.
“We have come to tell you that in our view, it is because we have this over-concentration of power in the Federal Government contrary to the agreement that our forefathers went into for the union called Nigeria; that governance has failed in our country; that the economic development has failed.
“In the past, the regions had active competition and it promoted growth. When we were sent to university, if you wanted to read Architecture you would go to Ahmadu Bello University. If you wanted to read Medicine, you would go to the University of Ibadan. If you wanted to read Humanities and Engineering, you would go to (University of Nigeria) Nsukka.
“Under the regime of pre- and immediate post-independence; in three spectacular years, things happened in Nigeria of outstanding proportion. We were the pride of Africa. Suddenly, it became retrogression. Oil is a declining commodity in the international market. China and others have put a time limit – between 2020 and 2024 – to stop production of machines dependent on fossil oil. The immediate consequence of this is that there is going to be a fundamental and phenomenal decline in the world demand for oil.
“Year 2020 is only two years from now. What is the sense of urgency around our country on how to cope with this? We are only interested in power, the sheer ego that ‘I hold power and I can do what I like,’ not in what our children will be tomorrow. There ought to be a time of national emergency now. What must we do to overcome this calamity?”
In his response, Saraki promised that the National Assembly would reconsider clauses on devolution of power in the ongoing constitution review process after passage of the 2018 budget.
However, he said that the nation was making some progress in the economy although security continue to be a challenge.
He added that the National Assembly recognised its pivotal place in the scheme of things and would continue to do all within its power to ensure growth and development of the nation.
Other members of the Senate who received the elders alongside Saraki were Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Majority Leader, Ahmad Lawan; Deputy Majority Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah; Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha; Minority Whip, Phillip Aduda; Deputy Chief Whip, Francis Alimikhena; Deputy Minority Whip, Biodun Olujimi; and Adamu Aliero.