- Alhaji Abubakar Malami came under criticism for speaking again restructuring of Nigeria
- The Ohaneze Ndigbo warned him to be careful of his statement
- Afenifere noted that the country was sitting on gun powder, ready to explode
Alhaji Abubakar Malami who is the minister of justice has come under severe criticism for statement credited to him that Nigeria cannot be restructured now until the constitution is amended.
The Sun reports that among those who lashed out at the minister was Professor Tunde Babawale of the department of Political Science, University of Lagos.
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He said: “it will not be right to agree with the position of the AGF.’’
“There is no one in the country that will agree that the current structure is perfect. It has been a harbinger of crisis, of distrust, injustice and equity.”
Senator Femi Okurounmu said he wasn’t surprised at the Malami’s position but insisted that restructuring would either be forced on the north or the country would have to be broken into two.
“I am not surprised by the statement of the AGF that the north will not support restructuring. The north does not want the status quo to change. They have always seen themselves as the only people fit to rule Nigeria. Anyway, we did not expect them to say otherwise; we must now force them.
“The people supporting restructuring are in the majority, hence, the minority cannot override us. And if they don’t want, we can then break Nigeria into two. They can go their own and we go on our way. That is the solution. We should stop asking them but force it on them, whether they want it or not.”
The president general of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, cautioned the minister to guard his statements as it can incur the wrath of the people and insisted that restructuring of the country was long overdue.
He said: “You cannot continue to impose a military constitution on Nigerians for this length of time. You cannot prevent Nigerians from saying that this is what they want; it’s their inalienable right to decide what kind of system they want.”
The national publicity secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, described the country as sitting on a keg of powder warning that it will explode if the country is not restructured.
“Such a statement (that Nigeria would not be restructured) coming from the AGF is quite unfortunate, particularly when the country is at the precipice of disintegration.
“I don‘t want to think that such an opinion was personal. It is also unfortunate that the AGF could not read between the lines and not know that this is the time to arrest the drift of agitation for self-determination by Nigerians.
“The shame, arrogance, the impunity and the ‘I don’t care’ attitude is disgusting and embarrassing. It is clear that if things continue the way they are going, Nigeria will go into blazes that they want it to go, because it is not an accident that the very day the AGF was making the arrogant statement on behalf of his bosses was the day the entire South East was shut down by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
“If they could not read what is going on, it means they are not only deaf, but they are dumb and blind. When finally the whole thing crashes on their heads, they will not have anyone or group to blame for it.”
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Yerima Shetima who is the president of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum also agreed with the call for restructuring insisting those against it were enemies of the country.
He said: “Those, who are against restructuring of the country are enemies of the country and her progress, because as it is currently configured, it can’t progress further without restructuring. Nigeria is long over due for restructuring, because the centre, which is too strong and must be decentralized, can no longer hold.”
NAIJ.com had reported that Malami noted that there has been a call for the restructuring of the country but pointed out that it wasn’t a matter of agitation.
He explained it was needed for the constitution to provide for such provision.
He said: “Federalism is imbedded in our constitution as contained in sections 2, 3 and 5. It is not out of place to state that as far as our constitutional democracy is concerned, the idea of restructuring is not a function of advocacy or agitation. It is about constitutional accommodation and or alternative constitutional amendment.
