Osinbajo, Atiku trade words over restructuring

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have been in the news these days tackling each other over the concept of restructuring.

The debate on restructuring Nigeria has been on since last year but the current exchange of by the two political heavyweights over the issue is an indication that restructuring would be one of the major tools for the 2019 campaign.

Fielding questions from a cross-section of Nigerians at a town hall meeting in Minnesota, the United States of America, recently, Osinbajo was quoted as saying the problem of Nigeria was not geographical restructuring.

But Atiku in a published essay on Premium Times stated that restructuring remains the best option for Nigeria considering the socio-economic, security and political challenges bedeviling the nation.

However, Osinbajo, in a letter to Premium Times, said Atiku’s understanding and position on restructuring was “vague.”

This position had irked Atiku who had been using every opportunity to speak about restructuring.

In response Osinbajo latest position, Atiku in a statement by his Media Office, yesterday, said he had remained consistent and straightforward on his call for structuring, saying he had been canvassing for administrative, political and economic restructuring and not geographical restructuring.

He, therefore, asked Osinbajo to tell Nigerians in clear terms whether he is in support of, or against restructuring Nigeria.

“Faced with an avalanche of public condemnation for his 360-degree turn on the concept of restructuring, it is understandable that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has written to Premium Times to douse the tension his comments created.

“Mr. Osinbajo said, ‘the problem with our country is not a matter of restructuring.’ That I disagree with and so do many other Nigerians. If the Vice President has changed his stance, I welcome it, but we should not use one finger to hide behind semantics.

“My advice to the Vice President is that he should choose whether he is for restructuring or whether he is against it and stick to his choice. This continuous prevarication, this approbation and reprobation, helps no one, least of all true progressives who know that Nigeria needs to be restructured and restructured soon.” to