Buhari’s leadership pattern intensifies clamour for restructuring – Ononuju, Dahiru, others

In the last three years, the clamour for the restructuring of the country to reflect true federal arrangement has increased even in some ‘unexpected quarters’ as some analysts blamed the style of leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari for the resurgent calls.

Some elements within sections of the country are believed to be making extreme calls for the disintegration of the country following intense dissatisfaction of the current system worsened by President Buhari’s alleged employment of nepotism as an official policy of government.

President Buhari has allegedly violated the Federal Character Principle when he appointed mostly his northern brothers into important government Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAS) and is said to be following this up with a systematic recruitment of his people to populate the security agencies to give him the room to perpetrate the much touted ‘Fulanisation agenda’.

Virtually all regions of the country seem to agree on the need to

restructure the country. Even the socio- cultural organisations such as the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Afenifere, the Middle Belt Forum and the Northern Elders Forum have raised their voices on restructuring and are already responding to it with the formation of regional security outfits such as ‘Amotekun’.

However, the call that perhaps rattled President Buhari and his aides was the warning by the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Enoch Adeboye, that if the country does not restructure it risks break up.

Adeboye spoke at a symposium in the presence of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; former governor of Cross River State and former presidential aspirant, Donald Duke and a former minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili. The cleric that it was either the country restructured as soon as possible or it broke up. “You don’t have to be a prophet to know that one,” he added.

But Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu in a statement described such calls as “recurring threats to the corporate existence of the country.”

The statement read, “The Presidency responds to the recurring threats to the corporate existence of the country with factions giving specific timelines for the President to do one thing or another or else, in their language, ‘the nation will break up.’

“This is to warn that such unpatriotic outbursts are both unhelpful and unwarranted as this government will not succumb to threats and take any decision out of pressure at a time when the nation’s full attention is needed to deal with the security challenges facing it at a time of the Covid-19 health crisis.”

Many have however, asked about what manner of restructuring that Nigeria needs at this moment. Responding to this, a senior member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who does not want his name on print, noted that Nigeria needs to restructure everything ranging from the constituents units, the economic and legislative systems.

He said: “I see no reason we should have 36 states that were created by military fiat which have largely remained unproductive and dependent on the Federal Government. The Federal Government needs to devolve power to the states so that the states can control their resources. Many of these states were created not because of economic viability but for political considerations. The states need to be allowed to generate their own resources and any state that cannot stand on its own must be made to merge with others to pull their resources together.”

He queried the rationale behind some sections having more local government areas than others and drawing resources from the states with less local government areas to fund others he described as ‘parasites’. He also said that the National Assembly must also be reduced to a unicameral Legislature with equal representation rather than the two chambers that was deliberately formed to favour some sections.

Speaking to Businessday on Thursday, public intellectual, Katch Ononuju also said the call for restructuring is an idea which time has come, adding that Buhari’s alleged clannish leadership has become the catalyst for a more coordinated approach by varying groups to actualised the dream.

He noted that there is no way the nation can move forward with the current military-fabricated unitary constitution with massive shortcomings it imposed on a plural society as Nigeria without as much the consent of the people.

“The restructuring is very simple, countries and republics are concepts, and those concepts are designed and then worked on. In Nigeria, we have now designed a federation that should be inclusive of the diverse society but what the military bequeathed to us does not rhyme with the concept of the federation and this must be changed to meet the aspirations of the diverse elements that make up the nation including their productive capacities.”

On how Nigeria is to be restructured, Ononuju suggested restructuring on regional basis, perhaps where the current 36 states structure will be subsumed into the six-geopolitical zones already existing in the country.

But public affairs analyst, Majeed Dahiru who however, expressed worry over the clamour for restructuring, blamed President Buhari for the louder level of the calls.

“My fear and my worry is this. No matter the structure you evolve, or create if those operating it are doing it without sincerity of purpose, no structure will work for Nigeria. This is why the Westminster Parliamentary democracy is working for the UK. But it did not last in Nigeria beyond six years. We practised regional autonomy we called true federalism; it collapsed in 1966. We practised presidential system of government, and it was sent packing just after four years between 1979 and 1983.”

He said further that there is no perfect structure anywhere in the world, stressing that all political structures are always work in progress subject to continuous improvement, and Nigeria cannot be an exception.

“Nigerian problems are not so much about structure. We have restructured Nigeria since 1960s in a number of ways but there seems to be dissatisfaction with each structure. There is more of the problem of operating the structure in Nigeria.

“Under current constitution, there is a simple provision that the local government is the third tier of government that it should be independent, it should be separate and it funds should go to it. But, the states have not been able to abide by this provision. The government has not been able to simply give life to the principles of separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution.

“We have been practicing democracy from 1999 to today it has still not worked. Whereas you have countries that military dictatorship worked for, some monarchy worked for them, some have one party dictatorship like we have in China and it is working for them because it depends on the operators of the model.”

He pointed out that no model can work for a country like Nigeria primarily because Nigeria is not a nation. He said Nigeria is only a country of multi-ethnogeographic nationalities adding that until Nigeria first evolves into a nation there is no system that can work for Nigeria.

And to evolve into a nation, he said is not something only restructuring can do. “It has to be done through organic restructuring of the mindset of Nigerians. We must begin to promote citizenship,” he said.

Majeed also conceded to those clamoring for restructuring, saying the current structure has been badly operated by the current Buhari government in the last five years.

“It is because we have seen the worse of the operations of the current structure in the last five years people are now calling for outright pulling down and rebuilding.

“In the years past where we had a better management of the current structure, the clamour for restructuring was a bit lower, but it is loud now even in the north. But beyond this, if we do not do restructuring with a purpose, nothing will work for Nigeria,” he said.