North Takes Position on Retructuring Soon – Al-Makura

The 19 governors of Northern states and all the traditional rulers from the region will take a common position on the ongoing agitation to restructure the country.

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, who made this known yesterday in Keffi during installation ceremony and presentation of First Class Staff of Office to the new Emir of Keffi, Dr Shehu Chindo Yamusa III, said that leaders in the North will take proactive steps to tackle merchants of hate speech in the country.

Al-Makura said, “I wish to say that in spite of numerous provocative statements credited to some unpatriotic elements clocked under the guise of restructuring, I want to assure everyone that a joint committee headed by Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Governor of Sokoto State, comprising Northern governors and traditional rulers would soon come up with a common position that will be in the best interest of not only the North, but Nigeria as a whole.”

Corroborating his counterpart in chat with newsmen at the event, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said: “Yes, as Governor Al-Makura said, I am leading the committee but I can’t preempt the outcome. I believe the outcome will be in the best interest of not only the North but the country as a whole.”

In his acceptance speech, the Emir of Keffi, Chindo Yamusa III, thanked the governor and kingmakers for the honour done to him and promised to promote peaceful coexistence in his domain and the state in general.

Restructuring has dominated discourse in Nigeria lately with different views expressed and committees set-up to look into the matter.

The All Progressives Congress during a joint regular meeting between the national working committee and the state governors elected on its platform constituted a committee headed by the Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai to look into the issue.

A statement after the meeting by the APC’s spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, noted that the party was concern with various agitations restructuring has assumed with several disparate meanings.

The Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, represented by his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu at a book launch of a former Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro titled “Nigeria: The Restructuring Controversy” in Abuja, said the federal government would soon address the issue of restructuring of the country.

Osinbajo explained that all the debates on the restructuring of the country by Nigerians were being noted by the Federal Government.

However, at a public hearing by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, explained that restructuring of Nigeria cannot be done except through amendment of the 1999 Constitution.