It’s Difficult To Restructure Nigeria Now, Says AD Chieftain
El-rufai, Buratai, Others Bag Awards
FOUNDING national secre‐ tary of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Dr. Udenta Udenta, has stated that Nigeria cannot be restruc‐ tured under the current polit‐ ical atmosphere. He argued that President Muhammadu Buhari could not begin the process of restructuring the country without first effecting a con‐ stitution review. Udenta spoke in Abuja yes‐ terday at the sidelines of the third anniversary/award cer‐ Thenigerian News emony of ‘Integrity Vs and the launch of Power Play: Understanding the Buhari Phenomenon’,a book written by Philip Agbese. The pro‐democracy activist, who is an expert in African Literature, Cultural Studies and Critical Theory, explained that a democratic vacuum must be created to pave way for a new order, as the 1999 constitution had foreclosed any prospect of restructuring. He stated: “You can only restructure when there is a vacuum. That means demo‐ cratic or constitutional vacu‐ um, or vacuum in governance. Thepresidentcannotrestruc‐ ture the country. He has not got the power to restructure. We must arrest the democrat‐ ic state, its momentum and the way it is constituted in order to restructure. “How then do we shove pres‐ idential, legislative and judi‐ cial powers aside to create the space to restructure? So it is not enough to say we should restructure or the president should take the lead. I also wish he could take the lead and I want the country to be restructured, but the reality is that the 1999 Constitution, as badly conceived as it is, has foreclosed the prospect of any restructuring being derived from it. We must shove it aside or leave it and restructure from within its context.” At the event, Kaduna State Governor Nasir el‐rufai Thenigerian News clinched 2019 ‘Politician of the Year’ award, while his Edo counter‐ part, Chief Godwin Obaseki, was crowned with the F’iscal Policy and Transparency Star of the Year’. The organisers stated that el‐ Rufai displayed uncommon courage and dexterity in con‐ taining the multifarious secu‐ rity threats which engulfed Kaduna, adding that the gov‐ ernor had not only halted the slide into anarchy, but effec‐ tively brought sanity and peace in the state. Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.‐gen. Tukur Buratai, was overwhelmingly voted as ‘The Most Outstanding Legend of the Year’ while the chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukunoluwa Awosika, won the ‘Change Agent of the Year’ (women’s category).