Nods of approval for the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tiubu’s position on restructuring have settled in.
The APC leader had supported the call for restructuring in a lecture delivered to Kings College Old Boy’s Association.
Tinubu said there was need for proper restructuring of Nigeria to attain the correct balance between our collective purpose on the one hand and our separate grass-roots realities on the other. We must listen to what is being said so that we can determine what it really meant.
He compared the current structure of the Nigerian polity to that of a newly wedded couple naive to the responsibilities that lie ahead.
“We are like the bewildered couple who has got their marriage licence after a lavish wedding; yet, neither of them really understands the meaning of marriage or their roles as husband and wife in it.
“Legally, they are married but functionally, their union is a crippled one. This couple will be at loggerheads until somehow they forge an agreement on what type of home they want and what are their respective duties in making that home come into existence.”
Hailing Tinubu’s position, Afenifere, said it was a welcome development.
Chief Sehinde Arogbofa, the Secretary General of the organization said, “Tinubu and his people were not enthusiastic about restructuring before and now that he is coming out at last to support it, I think he should be appreciated, I think he is ‘born again’. But I am not surprised that he is giving the whole thing a second thought.
“I don’t think any serious person in this country should oppose restructuring except those ones that want to play politics with it.
“Some leaders, even in the North, are supporting it; so, one is surprised when some are saying no to restructuring. Tinubu has done well for supporting the calls, it is a welcome development.”
Also Yinka Odumakin, spokesman of the group said Tinubu had always been a staunch advocate of the restructuring Nigeria agenda, having been a member of the National Democratic Coalition.
In a related development, the Ijaw Youth Council said Tinubu was a frontline advocate for true federalism.
IYC President, Mr. Eric Omare, in an interview with PUNCH news said,
“Before now, some of us were surprised that he (Tinubu) kept quiet while the demand for structuring was gaining momentum.
“It has been our thought that before now, since the government he played a very active role in supporting is in power, he would engineer the process of restructuring.”
A Northern Elder, Junaid Muhammed however faulted Tinubu’s position on the popular topic.
Muhammed said, “I don’t agree with that kind of restructuring. If you go through the theory of democratic countries, devolution of power becomes an issue once the system has stabilised. I am not persuaded that Nigeria’s democracy has stabilised. So, the issue of devolution does not quite complement an argument you want to canvass.”