It is a call for return to pre-1966 system – Mr Yinka Odumakin
Those who are currently in government in Nigeria do not love this country. If they love this country, the cheapest option for all of us is restructuring, to guarantee happiness for everybody and, of course, those separatists who are running away can be called back and we can build a united country based on justice, equity, fair play and equal opportunities.
And they are blind to the benefits of restructuring. It would make every part of this country prosperous and most of the conflicts we are having now would disappear. There is no way you can run a country like Nigeria along this line and not face the kind of stress we are facing at the moment. So, if this government loves this country, this is the time to restructure the country because a time is coming that if the crisis drags on, they would be begging for restructuring and they would not see it. They would be hawking restructuring, they would not find buyers.
The South-East is asking for selfdetermination, the South-South is doing the same thing, the Middle Belt, just came clearly that they are Middle Belt, not Arewa, and Abuja indigenes are saying they are going to call the United Nations to come and supervise how they manage their own lives. So, the country is breaking into pieces virtually as we are talking and we are saying let us come together, let’s buy back the confidence of everybody by restoring us back to where we were before 1966, that is what we are asking for.
It is well articulated. Restore us back to where we were before the military struck in 1966. We had a federal constitution at Independence which the 1999 Constitution was built upon. That was the time when every region was managing its development at its pace. In the South-West where I come from, what we achieved in Western Region under that arrangement, we have not seen it since 1966. So, pure and simple, take us back to where we were before 1966, that is what restructuring is all about.